SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – The Chrome & Azul have their marquee player to begin their inaugural MLS season in 2025. The club announcing the signing today of Mexico International Forward Hirving “Chucky” Lozano to a four-year contract, making him the first Designated Player in the Club’s young history.
Lozano will stay at his current club, Eredivisie Champions PSV Eindhoven, and play in the Netherlands until January 1, 2025. At the start of the new year he will head to San Diego to prepare for the start of the 2025 MLS season.
“Chucky” spent only one season in Eindhoven in his second stint with PSV, after spending his first two seasons in Europe (2017-2019) with the Rood-Witten in his first stint with the club. Following the 2019 season, Lozano would head to Italy after signing a five-year contract to join Napoli, with the Serie A side paying PSV $46.5 million in a transfer fee to acquire the rising Mexican star. Lozano would spend four seasons at Napoli (2019-2023), as he would play a big part in winning the Scudetto (league title) for the first time in 33 years in 2023, as well making a deep run into the UEFA Champions League Quarterfinals that season. But “Chucky’s” true rise to fame comes from his time with the Mexico National Team, where he scored the game-winning goal against defending World Champions Germany in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
“We look for talent first, and if we can find talent in it’s prime. Chucky is that” said San Diego FC CEO Tom Penn in a sit-down interview with us. “The fact that he can come and identify so much with our community, with our cross-border intentions with Mexico, with our “Right to Dream” ambitions to home-grow the best young talent. He’s just a perfect match for what we are looking to do.”
A perfect match indeed, one of the top stars of the Mexican National Team, still in his 20s, fresh off of winning League Titles in two different leagues in Europe. But will “Chucky” be the only perfect match that San Diego FC finds before their inaugural 2025 season? “He’s the key cornerstone, now we build the rest of the puzzle around that corner piece…We’re all about youth development as well, we may invest in younger players that are on the rise that could come here as a step towards their career maybe to Europe. Or do we go to a veteran that could compliment him in a different position?…We’ve got all kinds of flexibility, and we don’t have a defined plan on exactly what we’ll do, but we’re involved in all those types of discussions I just mentioned.”
The Lozano signing marks the first major move by the club in terms of the team itself. But there are still positions to be filled, most notably, finding a Head Coach and Sporting Director as both those positions still remain vacant at this time. “I think Head Coach is the next priority. From a General Manager standpoint, we are involved and integrated with the Right to Dream Group…so I have the luxury of that partnership and collaboration. Our Real focus is on Head Coach, and what a tough hire this is to get them to play our style of play, the Right to Dream way…We’re in active dialogue with multiple candidates, that’s probably next on the hit list.”
The official introduction of Lozano to the media and fans will take place on Thursday, June 13, with a press conference at Snapdragon Stadium followed by a fan fest at Rady Shell at Jacobs Park later that day.
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