Houston Dynamo FC have signed 18-year-old goalkeeper Xavier Valdez to a multi-year Homegrown Player contract after finalizing a trade to acquire his Homegrown Territory exclusivity from the New York Red Bulls and New York City FC.
Houston traded $50,000 in conditional General Allocation Money (GAM) to the Red Bulls and traded $50,000 in conditional GAM to New York City FC as part of the trade. The New York Red Bulls and NYCFC will retain a percentage of a future transfer fee outside of MLS.
Xavier has been a part of the Houston Dynamo Academy since July 2020. Before that though, he participated as a guest player for the Dynamo in the Generation adidas that Houston hosted in February of that same year.
“We are pleased to have the opportunity to sign Xavier to his first professional contract,” said Dynamo general manager Pat Onstad. “Since joining the Academy in 2020, Xavier has proven to be a goalkeeper with great potential. Xavier has gotten the chance to train extensively with the Dynamo first team, and has shown that he has what it takes to be a great MLS goalkeeper.”
Since signing with the Dynamo, Valdez has featured as a regular goalkeeper for the Dynamo Academy U-23 team. He has also spent time training with the first team under the direction of goalkeepers coach Zach Thornton.
Prior to joining the Dynamo, he was with Shattuck St. Mary’s in Minnesota, where he was recruited by Jason Grubb.
