Union

Classic Ernst Tanner Shrewdness, as Union Bring in Striker Who Scored 10 Goals in 14 MLS Games

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Aug 5th, 2025 · 11:19 AM EDT

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This is a nice signing for the U:

CHESTER, Pa. (August 5, 2025) – Philadelphia Union announced today that they have acquired forward Milan Iloski on a permanent transfer from FC Nordsjælland and will join the active roster following receipt of his ITC. Iloski has signed a contract through 2027 with an option for 2028.

To facilitate that move, the Union first acquired the number one position in the MLS Waiver Order for the claiming period that commenced on July 15, 2025, from CF Montreal, enabling the club to claim Iloski off waivers. In exchange, Montreal received the 21st spot in the waiver order a guaranteed $100,000 in 2025 General Allocation Money (GAM) and up to an additional $150,000 in conditional GAM.

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Iloski, 26, has scored 10 goals and added one assist in just 14 appearances (three starts) for San Diego FC this season. In June, he made MLS history by scoring four goals in a 12-minute span against Vancouver Whitecaps FC, the fastest four-goal performance in league history.

“Why did San Diego let this guy walk?”, you ask. Good question.

Iloski is a California native who was on loan to MLS from Norway. According to reporting from Tom Bogert and Jose Nunez, the loan was mutually terminated when both sides failed to reach an agreement on wages, despite interest in a permanent deal. So Iloski went back to Norway and the Union acted, signing him to a multi-year contract and bringing him back to the United States.

According to salary data, Iloski was earning $156,000 this season, which is nothing. That would put him 21st on the Union’s payroll, going by guaranteed salary. Comments from San Diego’s sporting director, Tyler Heaps, suggest the organization thought Iloski was on an unsustainable, flash-in-the-pan type of run, which is why a deal didn’t get done:

“…he’s been in our organization for 18 months. Obviously our negotiation side was probably a little more firm in terms of what we knew about the player from the longevity of him being with us, and his (approach) was on a very short-term thinking in terms of what he’s done in the last couple of games, which is tremendous and will probably never be done again in MLS. So disappointed for sure, a fantastic person, I know he was disappointed as well. It’s not an easy one to lose somebody from here, but let’s see what ends up happening down the line.”

Pretty easy to read between the lines there. Or just read the lines, since Heaps is transparent. San Diego was going by the larger body of work, while the Union do not think this was s blip on the radar, so they pounce, thinking the guy is a good fit for their frenetic and direct playstyle.

This is really a classic bit of Union Moneyball, and it reminds me of the Julian Carranza move, when he was squeezed out of the Miami lineup because that team started to bring in high-priced stars. Ernst Tanner brought in Carranza on loan, he went on to have a brilliant couple of seasons in Philadelphia, then made his European move. The U are historically good at identifying untenable situations for talented players and saying, “come here and take your chance.” Paraphrasing, of course, but they are very good at the ceiling raising, change-of-scenery thing.

Iloski is likely a replacement for Mikael Uhre, who will probably depart following the January expiration of his contract. It leaves them with a striker corps, for now, of Iloski, Uhre, Tai Baribo, Bruno Damiani, and Chris Donovan.