Nashville SC sign Jacob Shaffelburg on loan from Toronto FC

NASHVILLE, TN – Nashville SC announced Tuesday the signing of winger Jacob Shaffelburg from Toronto FC on loan through the end of the 2022 season. Nashville will also receive an international roster spot as part of the transaction.

Nashville Soccer Club announced today the signing of homegrown winger Jacob Shaffelburg on loan from Toronto FC through the 2022 MLS season in exchange for $225,000 in 2022 General Allocation Money (GAM). Nashville SC also receives a 2022 international roster spot from Toronto as part of the deal, and the option to exercise a permanent transfer for Shaffelburg in 2023.

Shaffelburg is set to join Nashville SC upon receipt of his P-1 Visa and International Transfer Certificate.

“Jacob is a versatile wide player with rapid pace that makes him a constant threat,” said Nashville SC General Manager Mike Jacobs. “We are excited to add him as he has the potential to provide a different dimension to our group. At a young age, he also has excellent experience in MLS as well as in representing his country.”

Shaffelburg, 22, joins Nashville SC from Toronto FC where he made 47 appearances across all competitions since 2019. During his time there, he helped lead The Reds to a 2020 Voyagers Cup in the Canadian Championship. In 2021, he was awarded the Best Young Canadian Player award by the Canadian Soccer Association, which recognizes each tournament’s best Canadian U-21 player.

Shaffelburg made his first appearance for Toronto FC in the 2019 Concacaf Champions League on February 19, 2019, and then later signed with the club as a Homegrown Player on June 21.

At the international level, Shaffelburg made his Canada Soccer Men’s National Team debut on January 10, 2020, in a friendly against Barbados and has since earned a total of three caps. In his most recent international caps, Shaffelburg appeared in the third round of the 2021-2022 Concacaf World Cup Qualifiers where he helped Canada finish first and qualify for Qatar 2022™, ending a 36-year drought since the first and only time Canada played in a FIFA World Cup™ in 1986.

Shaffelburg adds a different look to Nashville’s winger group, offering more pace and direct threat than anyone on the roster. He’s able to play either as a fullback or further forward as a winger, and has the ability to cut inside from the right onto his left foot, a look that Nashville don’t have in the squad.

The signing puts Shaffelburg on track for minutes he won’t get after Toronto’s new signings and gives Nashville a different type of option in a needed position. It’s the type of low risk, high reward move that we’ve seen Nashville utilize in the past.