Dani Pereira and Owen Wolff have already achieved firsts for the Austin FC organization that no one can take away from them.
Pereira’s the team’s first-ever MLS SuperDraft pick, a bit of a surprise when he was taken by Verde as the first overall selection on January 21, 2021, but in retrospect, clearly the best in class (though Verde got a B in a now-hilarious MLS draft recap1).
Wolff became the team’s first official homegrown player eight months later, making an appearance two months later to become the first player to ascend from the Austin FC Academy ranks (albeit more of a finishing school for him) to the first team.
Technically, each in their fourth MLS season, the 23-year-old Pereira (turning 24 on July 14) and the 19-year-old Wolff (shedding any remaining claims to the Teen Wolff moniker on December 30) are progressing as leaned-on rotational starters on an Austin FC team that has experienced oscillating peaks and valleys.
Both technically in their fourth seasons, they’ve accumulated modest base numbers but have shown great potential at points in their MLS careers that point to their abilities to evolve into MLS mainstays. It’s also possible that either of them capture another club first: The first player to move abroad in a high-profile transfer.
Wolff, with two goals and seven assists in 68 appearances, made the U.S. Under-20 World Cup team last year, and though he missed out on today’s final U.S. roster for the upcoming Olympics squad dominated by U-23 standouts, he’s in what’s becoming an increasingly jumbled mix to earn an eventual cap (if not more) with the senior team.
Pereira, with two goals and 14 assists in 100 MLS appearances, has been impressive on both sides of the ball in recent Verde matches, perhaps emboldened by his call-ups to the Venezuelan national team in anticipation of this summer’s Copa America tournament.
While we still don’t know how the summer transfer window will shake out for Austin FC, it’s a time in which European suitors for both young players’ services could come calling.
