The ones that got away.

Every MLS club that spends any amount of time developing players has them; those skilled ingenues who’ve spent time in their academy only to leap at a more substantive chance across borders. And it’s a heated issue in MLS in particular, since the league refuses to dole out training compensation for its players who leap abroad before signing their first pro deal. That means MLS clubs face a decision of either locking up their Homegrowns or losing them - and the time they put in training them - for nothing on the dollar.

That adds an extra layer of sting to MLS front offices when a talented academy kid walks before signing a Homegrown deal. And these were six of the most painful since MLS academies started cranking out players worthy of international attention.

6. Timothy Weah, New York Red Bulls (to Paris St. Germain)

We’re not quite certain how good Weah is yet, but he certainly has the bloodlines. His father is former superstar George, who was objectively one of the greatest attackers in the world for 12 years with Monaco, Paris St. Germain and AC Milan. Weah was raised in New York and spent time in the Red Bulls system as perhaps its most promising attacker. While coming up through the lower rungs of the Red Bulls’ youth ladder, he quickly earned a place on the U.S. youth national team map as a serious future YNT World Cup threat.

But then 2015 happened. Weah leapt at an opportunity with PSG opened up by both his skill and his father’s connections in Europe, and he’s still there today. Weah’s been bagging goals for the loaded PSG U19 team now for a few years, and he’s been an integral piece of the current U17 MNT cycle. The Red Bulls, meanwhile, were left wondering what if for one of the most technically skilled young forwards in the pool.

5. Brooks Lennon, Real Salt Lake (to Liverpool)

This one might be a mite less painful thanks to the situation in 2017. Lennon came up as the jewel of the RSL academy through a wildly successful period in 2012-15, but the writing was on the wall as soon he obtained his Irish passport. That allowed him to jump at the opportunity to join Liverpool's vaunted academy in 2015, where he's largely been appearing for the club's U19 side. You can imagine RSL's dismay at the prospect of losing arguably the best academy player in its history for nothing, but Lennon seemed to flourish at Liverpool.

But unlike the rest of the players on this list, Lennon is back home this year. On loan, at least. In a relatively unprecedented move, Liverpool loaned Lennon back to his boyhood club for all of 2017. That means Lennon gets to make some first team contribution, even if it isn't a permanent thing. Whether that makes the pain of Lennon's loss any more or less acute by watching him up close for a year before turning him loose again, Lennon should thrive in 2017. The fact that he was the U.S. MVP at the U20 CONCACAF Championship in 2017 probably won't dim Liverpool's desire to keep him in England, however.

4. Haji Wright, LA Galaxy (to Schalke)

While it’s true Wright’s time with the LA Galaxy was somewhat limited, he was still one of their brightest attacking lights. That became even more evident when the LA native was pictured training with the first team in 2014, right alongside Landon Donovan. It was a relatively big deal at the time, but soon thereafter another photo emerged - of Wright in Schalke training garb. That was a harbinger of the beginning of the end, as Wright wouldn’t play another game for the Galaxy. He soon signed his first professional contract with the New York Cosmos and then leapt at a Schalke deal in Germany on his 18th birthday.

Wright was still raw at the time he left, so it wasn’t clear that he’d have an easier time cracking the XI than, say, Bradford Jamieson’s had the last year and a half. But now that Wright is bagging goals for fun for Schalke’s vaunted U19s, the Galaxy’s loss is all the more acute. The fact that he’s a bullish winger makes the cut even more deep. Wright could find time in the lineup right away, even as a super sub.

3. Weston McKennie, FC Dallas (to Schalke)

It’s no surprise we have two players at Schalke on this list considering the German mega-club’s recent plunge into the American market. While Wright was more of a peripheral prospect for the Galaxy considering his time actually spent in the academy, McKennie was an enormous blow for FC Dallas primarily due to the time he’d spent at the club. McKennie literally grew up as a soccer player at FCD, and the club helped develop him from a promising young player to a U.S. YNT player earning MVP trophies at international tournaments.

The central midfielder spent a huge chunk of his substantive youth career at FCD before it became obvious the club couldn’t bring him to terms on a Homegrown deal in 2016. By the summer, when FCD’s U18s were playing in the DA national title game, McKennie was so far advanced with Schalke that he wasn’t in attendance. A month later, Schalke announced McKennie had signed (also on his 18th birthday) and FCD was forced to watch one of its best academy players in history walk for free.

2. Paul Arriola, LA Galaxy (to Tijuana)

Like Wright, Arriola’s relatively brief time with the Galaxy was more a product of shrewd youth scouting and a good reputation. He spent the majority of his elder youth days with Temecula academy Arsenal FC (Carlos Bocanegra’s old club) before joining the Galaxy late on. But he was immediately considered one of the better wide attacking prospects in the Galaxy’s oeuvre, and a pro deal was almost immediately considered. Arriola was certainly good enough to warrant one, and as his future would prove, the Galaxy were right to consider it.

But Arriola ultimately turned down the opportunity to sign with the Galaxy in lieu of a short hop across the border. In lieu of MLS, Arriola signed his first pro deal for Liga MX club Tijuana in 2013 and spent a few years getting his bearings as a youth player. To date, he’s amassed nearly 80 first team appearances at Tijuana and performed well enough to earn three full national team caps. You could almost feel the cringes in the Galaxy front office when Arriola scored two goals in those three USMNT matches, too. The biggest SoCal fish that broke the line and swam away.

1. Emerson Hyndman, FC Dallas (to Fulham)

If you’d picked up Hyndman’s career without context in, say, 2013, you’d probably assume he was English. He spent a half decade in Fulham’s academy, got a few thousand minutes for the first team, signed for Premier League outfit Bournemouth in 2016 and was then loaned out to Rangers in Scotland in 2017. But those in the know realize Hyndman - the grandson of then-FCD coach Schellas Hyndman - spent a season with FC Dallas’ prodigious academy in 2010-2011, which got him on the path toward a Homegrown contract. Hyndman may have spent more time with the Dallas Texans - Clint Dempsey’s former home - but FCD shrewdly incorporated him at a young age.

But Hyndman was ultimately destined for London. Before FCD could approach Hyndman for a Homegrown deal, he signed with Fulham in 2011 at the tender age of 15. Since then, Hyndman’s become a mega-prospect in the UK and is currently in ripping form as a regular starter on loan at Rangers. He’s also one of the more promising USMNT prospects as a connector in the middle after a quality stint as the American captain at the 2015 U20 World Cup. Can you imagine an FCD midfield with Kellyn Acosta and Hyndman? FCD would rather not think about it.