DC United manager Wayne Rooney has revealed that he placed Jesse Lingard on his club's discovery list.
That means that DC United will receive money even if Lingard ends up joining a rival MLS team.
Every club in the league can name up to seven players on their discovery list, which is made up of players who are playing outside MLS.
In the event that a club signs a player on another team's discovery list they must pay that club a fee.
Rooney named former Manchester United team-mate Lingard on his discovery list while he was at Nottingham Forest.
Rooney told The Times: 'You don't know about 'discovery' players? OK, take Erling Haaland.
'We could put Haaland on our 'Discovery List' and it means that if he ever came to the MLS but let's say wanted to play for one of the LA teams and not us, the LA team would have to pay Man City – and us. Because we've 'discovered' him! It's crazy.
'But if you're clever, you can make money. Last year when Jesse Lingard signed for a year with [Nottingham] Forest we put him on our Discovery List because you thought there's every chance that after a year at Forest he'll want to come to the US and that would mean we could sign him or get money for him.'
Lingard is currently a free agent following his departure from Forest at the end of June.
He played with Rooney for both United and England.
Lingard played 232 times for United in total and scored 35 goals, while he provided 21 assists.
During his time at United he had loan spells at Leicester, Birmingham, Brighton, Derby and West Ham.
Rooney, United's all-time record goalscorer, commenced his coaching career at Derby County before taking charge of DC United in July 2022.
Next week Rooney will coach the MLS all-star team against Arsenal.