Austin FC announced end-of-year roster decisions on Friday, including which players they’ve exercised club options on and which players they’re letting test the market on their own.
First, let’s just share what’s in the release, per the club’s language:
- Alex Ring’s contract option for 2024 was automatically exercised due to the player meeting certain benchmarks.
- The following two (2) players had their contract options exercised for 2024: Damian Las and Daniel Pereira.
- 18 additional players remain under contract for next season: Matt Bersano, Julio Cascante, Moussa Djitté (loan), Sebastián Driussi, Ethan Finlay, CJ Fodrey, Jon Gallagher, Matt Hedges, Žan Kolmanič, Nick Lima, Emiliano Rigoni, Alex Ring, Jhohan Romaña (loan), Brad Stuver, Leo Väisänen, Jhojan Valencia, Owen Wolff, and Gyasi Zardes.
- Moussa Djitté remains on loan at Bandirmaspor in Turkey until June 30, 2024. Additionally, Jhohan Romaña remains on loan at Club Olimpia in Paraguay through December 31, 2023.
- Austin FC has declined the contract options for the following nine (9) players: Charlie Asensio, Will Bruin, Sofiane Djeffal, Kipp Keller, Adam Lundkvist, Alfonso Ocampo-Chávez, Rodney Redes, Memo Rodriguez, and Maxi Urruti.
- For Hector Jimenez, conversations about returning to Austin FC in 2024 are still ongoing.
- Brandan Craig, who spent part of the 2023 season on loan with Austin FC, will officially return to his parent club Philadelphia Union upon the expiration of his loan on December 31, 2023.
There are a few surprises in here and a number of items that are not surprising at all. I’ll do some initial reactions with more to come this weekend and/or next week.
