Carlos Bocanegra is setting his sights on a return to the Major League Soccer…
The 34-year-old half-Mexican American soccer star, who was featured au naturel in ESPN’s The Body Issue last year, is a free agent after leaving the Scottish Premier League side Rangers.
Bocanegra, the former captain of the U.S. national team, spent the past season on loan to Racing Santander in Spain’s Segunda División after the Rangers were demoted to the fourth tier of the Scottish soccer league because of financial problems.
The Rangers announced on the team’s website Saturday that Bocanegra’s contract was mutually terminated a day earlier and said he is expected to return to the Major League Soccer. Toronto has the top slot in the allocation ranking and would have the first chance to add him to its roster if he agrees to an MLS contract, league spokesman Will Kuhns said.
Bocangra played for the Chicago Fire from 2000-04, then went on to Fulham (2004-08), Rennes (2008-10), Saint-Etienne (2010-11) and Rangers (2011-12).
Bocanegra has made 110 appearances for the U.S. and was the American captain at the 2010 World Cup. He has not played for the national team since November.