FC Dallas has signed their league-leading 19th Homegrown player today in U-18 keeper Carlos Avilez.

The only difference in this deal as oppose to past HGP signings is that Avilez is the first HGP signing in team history to go straight to USL affiliate Oklahoma City Energy FC. The FC Dallas Academy product to sign a professional contract through FC Dallas but will be the first to utilize this path through the club’s USL affiliate.

Avilez joined the FC Dallas Academy in the summer of 2012. He was the starting goalkeeper for the 2016 U-16 U.S. Soccer Development Academy Champions. He also traveled with the FC Dallas first team during its preseason trip to Argentina. He saw time in two matches, a 1-0 loss to Lanus and a 2-1 victory against River Plate Reserves.

So how this all works is FC Dallas is able to sign up to four players using this USL mechanism. In this case, Avilez will actually be loaned to Dallas for the weekend via the emergency hardship rule, similar to what we’ve seen in recent weeks with Chris Seitz being out and the team loaning in Jacob Lissek. The only way we’ll see him officially be apart of the first team is if the club signs him to a MLS deal.

These deals are a tad confusing but basically Avilez is a USL player for the time being. That is the important thing to note here.