We hate to do this, but we have our reasons.
You already know that Austin FC experiences roster turnover at the end of each season. Last year, those players you had to say goodbye to included fan favorites like the oft-affable Maxi Urruti and the straight-shooting Will Bruin, as well as lesser-known supporting actors like Memo Rodriguez and Adam Lundkvist.
This year, it’s possible — even though there are no solvent rumors on our radar — that an Austin FC player is poised to leave within the next few weeks, following Emiliano Rigoni, who left in May per Verde’s one-per-season buyout. It’d be for the same reason (in part, at least) that Rigoni left: To make way for a new player. Rigoni’s exit allowed a promising designated player who succeeds him at the wing position, Osman Bukari, to sign at one of the precious top-tier roster spots.
Last week’s rumor that Róbert Boženík is likely to move from Portuguese club Boavista to Hellas Verona, and the attached rumor that Austin FC was involved in talks before the Slovakian opted for Serie A, should put transfer-minded Austin fans on alert.
Boženík has a €5 million transfer value per Transfermarkt and has scored goals for both club and country, with seven goals in 44 appearances for Slovakia — including two sub appearances in the most recent Euros. Meeting that transfer fee valuation would almost certainly be a designated player-level move that Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell could execute — provided Alex Ring’s bought down from DP to non-DP status with TAM. (Just nod even if you don’t understand MLS roster rules.)
And it’s possible that this rumor isn’t true, but if it is, it’s encouraging because Boženík is a prime-age striker (turning 25 in November), and Borrell going after a player like that shows ambition. (If you’re curious about the player he is, a publication called Breaking the Lines did a deep dive, calling him a “frustrating fenômeno,” with stats and a profile giving some Petar Musa vibes.)
It would also follow Borrell’s pattern of reaching out to clubs with financial needs — as Boavista reportedly had players striking over unpaid wages as recently as December according to one publication, and Chidozie Awaziem just moved from Boavista to FC Cincinnati to partially solve its center back crisis.
If the Boavista name sounds familiar, it’s where FC Dallas’ Reggie Cannon moved in 2020, accumulating quite the story (of the “transfers gone wrong” variety).
But here’s the deal: To open a senior spot on the current Austin FC roster, the club has to move a player. It can be via trade, transfer, or a mutual termination of contract (as it recently executed with Moussa Djitté, whose loan in Turkey ended June 30). There’s also a weird maneuver in which Austin, having used its buyout on Rigoni back in May, could trade a player to an MLS team that has a buyout; that team could then buy the new player out. That’s how Toronto FC got rid of Dom Dwyer in January 2022 with FC Dallas’ help.
So, who’s Austin getting rid of to make way for a new player? That’s a tricky question. We’ll try to answer it, being purely speculative and basing it on where Austin could afford to lose depth, who might be attractive to another team in a trade, and what various players’ contracts look like.
