NEW YORK — Marcus Tracy is on his way back home.
After spending the last three seasons with Danish side Aalborg BK, where he was a teammate of current Chicago Fire star Chris Rolfe, the league confirmed on Tuesday that the out-of-contract 25-year-old forward has signed an MLS deal.
The former Wake Forest star will find out his new MLS home in a weighted lottery that will be conducted on Thursday, Sept. 13. Clubs have until end of day on Wednesday to confirm whether they will participate in the lottery.
The percentage chances of an MLS club to land Tracy will be determined based on the number of clubs opting to participate and their record over the most recent 34 regular-season matches, dating back to last year. Teams with the worst record have the greatest probability of winning.
The Vancouver Whitecaps and Colorado Rapids are precluded from the Tracy sweepstakes after landing Lee Nguyen and Kamani Hill in lotteries held earlier this year.
Tracy, who has struggled with tendonitis in both knees during his years in Europe, has been training with the Philadelphia Union in his native Pennsylvania in recent days as first reported by MLSsoccer.com's Greg Seltzer.
The lottery mechanism is being used in Tracy's case since he was drafted by the Houston Dynamo back in the 2009 SuperDraft and offered a contract, which he turned down to join Aalborg. Given that more than two years have passed since the Dynamo drafted the 2008 Hermann Trophy winner, the club no longer holds the MLS rights to the player.
League rules explain that players are assigned via the lottery system "in order to prevent a player from potentially influencing his destination club with a strategic holdout."
