A pair of Austin FC rumors to contend with: Allende in, Biro out?

Happy Boxing Day, everybody! If you've checked out on soccer the last few days — which is perfectly understandable, given that Spurs-I-like highlighted an excellent slate of NBA Christmas games, plus all the Christmas festivities[[1]] I hope you got to enjoy as we did — you might have missed the pair of rumors that are currently swirling around Verde.

In the likely absence of news until next week (or the week after, even), let's explore. (It's that time of the year.)

Tadeo Allende in Verde?

The 26-year-old Celta Vigo loanee came to Inter Miami CF in 2025, got 11 goals and an assist in a little under 2200 MLS regular-season minutes, and then exploded for a record-setting nine goals and two assists in six playoff games — for an astounding goal contribution every 46.5 minutes — to help the Herons win MLS Cup.

As we know from Robert Taylor at Miami vs. Robert Taylor vs. Austin, pretty much every attacking player is better with Messi. But Allende's an intriguing player in his own right — and the subject of a Sebastián Srur report that he's either bound for River Plate (the team Srur follows[[2]]), reupping with Miami ... or moving to Austin.

For those who follow transfer rumors, this does have the whiff of "agent trying to secure a better deal for player with club he's currently at," but Allende added to Austin does provide an interesting option on the wing — and someone who has scored more goals during a regular season since Sebastian Driussi scored 11 in 2023.

Here's what Allende's most recent full year looks like compared to the usual mess of leagues that FBref uses.

And, in case Allende is being lined up as a Myrto Uzuni replacement (as having both Uzuni and Allende on this team feels redundant to me), here's what they look like compared to one another.

Again, Allende's doing this with Messi, Jordi Alba, and Sergio Busquets in the lineup, meaning that Allende's getting quality passes with way more consistency than Uzuni got in 2025. But they've got similar strengths and weaknesses, save for assists — which Allende being a better scorer, with more touches and better defensive numbers.

Without moving Uzuni, Allende doesn't make much sense for an Austin lineup that's still crying out for additional chance creation. But with Owen Wolff, a credible 10, and Jaden Nelson and Joseph Rosales able to switch balls from their left side to Allende's probable right wing position, Verde would get a lot more exciting.

Just pulling a number out of the air, let's say there's about a 10 percent chance this happens, but it's fun to think about.

Biro leaving?

With Joseph Rosales officially announced on Tuesday, that begged the question whether one of Austin FC's current left backs is on the way out, or whether the plan is to deploy Rosales in the midfield, or even whether Guilherme Biro becomes an elbow back to Rosales' wingback in a back-five formation.

Then we got this rumor.

Biro's had quite the trajectory in MLS. He arrived in January 2024 as a relative unknown — actually named Guilherme da Trindade Dubas, but going by Biro and being confused for a higher-profile Guilherme Biro four years younger, so much so that Apple TV commentators spent half a season praising the 19-year-old who was actually 23.

In January 2025, the club signed Biro to an extension, keeping him Verde through the 2026 season with an option for 2027. In 2025, Biro matched his three-goal from 2024, added an assist, and thanks to Jordi Alba holding out from the 2025 All-Star Game in Austin, got named to the All-Star squad as a very last minute replacement.

Enigmatic at times in his defensive play, and often exciting in his attacking-half ventures, Biro's been a contributor on a club-friendly contract, though also occupying an international roster spot. Depending on the deal that sporting director Rodolfo Borrell could get by moving him to a South American club — and how much General Allocation Money that could generate — this could be a vital block pull in the Jenga game that is the current offseason rebuild.

Though asked to do some different things in their respective systems, this is the Biro-Rosales comparison chart, in case you're wondering if Rosales is an upgrade.

Moving Biro still leaves Žan Kolmanič and Jon Gallagher as fullback depth behind Rosales, though some of the four-back vs. five-back flexibility gets lost as Biro did slot into the elbow back role or even as a center back in some situations.

In attempting to get better, it sometimes requires a sporting director to jettison fan favorites and make some higher risk/higher reward choices. Completing the Rosales in and Biro out circle would be one of those moves, and if you count Osman Bukari-for-Nelson as one of those moves, it's the second of the offseason.

Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) wherever you get your podcasts.

[[1]]: If you've followed the latest Emergency Tangent, that did include making a 4:45 pm screening of Anaconda, but our eight-year-old found the 2025 in-theater snake much scarier than the 1997 at-home snake, and we had to leave early; she also expressed that the Alamo doesn't let her talk through movies is she is wont to do.

[[2]]: He's got 183k followers on The Bad Site, and nearly 40k on the 'Gram.