SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — San Diego FC is losing one of its leading scorers as Escondido native Milan Iloski returns to SDFC's sister club in Denmark after a highly successful loan period.
Iloski scored 10 goals in less than two months while playing in front of hometown fans at Snapdragon Stadium. The move follows an unsuccessful attempt to extend the loan through the remainder of the MLS season.
For many clubs, losing a top scorer like Iloski at this stage of the season would be considered a devastating blow, but under head coach Mikey Varas, SDFC has developed a 'next man up' mentality and an ability to roll with the punches.
"It's nothing we haven't been facing," Varas said.
Life goes on for SDFC, even without a player who gave the expansion team a huge lift when he arrived from the team's sister club in Denmark. Iloski's 10 goals included a 4-goal game against Vancouver that earned him MLS Man of the Matchday honors.
According to club officials, Iloski preferred a return to Europe rather than staying in San Diego.
"He came here on loan, on a short-term loan, we worked diligently to make it long-term," Varas said after training in El Cajon on Tuesday. "We couldn't come to an agreement. We wanted to respect Milan's wishes to go test himself in Europe. We wish him nothing but the best and are just focused on the guys we have now."
Players seemed to agree with Varas, saying the team will need to quickly move forward without Iloski.
"Obviously sad, Milan was a great guy for us, and he contributed really well, and scored a lot for goals for us, as well," said Christopher McVey, SDFC defender "Sad to seem him leave, but then again, we have a lot of good players here, so it's time for some other guys to step up, and I'm sure they will,"
Iloski was already held out of the lineup for last Saturday's 2-1 win at Chicago. SDFC returns to action Wednesday night at 7:30 to host Toronto FC.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
