On Monday morning, Austin FC announced news that was already out there already — center back Leo Väisänen has moved from Austin FC to Swedish club BK Hacken, and although the club doesn't announce financials on such moves, rumors swirling around the move set the transfer fee at $550,000.
The final numbers on Väisänen aren't hugely impressive — one goal and one assist in a little under 2,600 MLS minutes, with only 13 appearances and nine starts in 2024 and no appearances at all this season.
The right LCL tear knocking him out of the 2023 U.S. Open Cup loss against Chicago Fire FC is, in a sad way, a defining moment for his time at the club, setting in motion an injury history that persisted into 2024, including a puzzling end-of-season shutdown that then-Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff intimated was very much Väisänen's decision.
While the 27-year-old did show promise at points in his time at Austin, and seemed a solid character guy when healthy and able to play, he did also command a TAM-level salary not commensurate with his contributions. And while he did allow me to perfect the "control-U followed by A" keystroke sequence to get the umlauts right in his name, this doesn't have the same level of shocking goodbye that, say, the Diego Fagundez move had.
Even before the latest round of rumors, some of us surmised a move like this might be in the works.
That leaves Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell with some short-term and long-term considerations about what to do at center back.
The case for waiting until summer
The primary transfer window ends April 23, and the secondary transfer window starts July 24. With Julio Cascante getting time in Sunday's win over San Diego FC, Verde will have three healthy available first-team center backs again once Oleksandr Svatok returns from international duty.
Guilherme Biro stepped in at center back for the bulk of Sunday's match – shifting from center back to left back to finish out the full 90 once Cascante came on — and accounted well for himself. That, combined with Žan Kolmanič having a good outing at left back, means that Verde effectively has a four-center-back rotation if you count Biro as one of the four.
The team also has the ability to bring in Antonio Gomez and Nico Van Rijn from VerDos on three additional Short-Term Agreements each (with two appearances in those three call-ups). Gomez and Van Rijn were called up together on Sunday, but if they're staggered over six matches, that gets the team through six of the 18 matches between now and the start of the summer window.
With Väisänen's exit, Borrell has three senior roster spots, and two of those are international. If the goal is to get a center back to push for a starting role, waiting until summer likely expands the pool of players to Europe, which is where Borrell has looked to remake much of the lineup over the last few windows.
The case for acting now
There's no guarantee that players will stay healthy, and though Verde's defense has emerged as one of the best even with early-season injuries to Cascante and Mikkel Desler, 2023 showed how just a couple of back line injuries can have a cascading impact on a team's ability to defend. The fundamentals might be sounder this year under head coach Nico Estévez, but there's increased risk in losing additional first-choice pieces.
If there's a domestic target in mind that could plug and play from a pool of out-of-contract or out-of-favor center backs, it could help Verde to have a more stable back line in the short term, and then allow Borrell to go after two difference-making attackers or midfielders to challenge some of the more underperforming ones still getting significant minutes.
The Matt Hedges signing in 2023 was concerning because of the spend required, complicating the already-pressurized salary budget when he was brought on board, but the idea was sound: Get a center back who knows the league well enough to step in without benefit of a preseason with the squad.
Certainly, head coach Josh Wolff had a greater comfort level plugging Hedges into the squad without significant onboarding, compared to earlier stopgap measure Aleksandar Radovanović, who arrived on loan March 22, 2023, and didn't get a start until May 17, getting seven appearances total (four of those starts) before he was back off to Europe.
But Estévez isn't Wolff, and it's possible that a center back signing now could work into the defense he's built in his first year – already impressive in some key metrics – compared to the Wolff Era defenses that ranged from middle-of-the-pack to among the league's worst. (Consider they let in anywhere from 48 to 56 goals a season in their first four, and save for their debut season when they were 19th in tackles plus interceptions, finished 26th at best in that category the other three years, including dead last in that stat in 2022 (the good year).
Choose your own adventure (as Rodo)
What you would do might be different from what Borrell would do, even if you feel you've got a sense of Borrell's master plan, which you likely don't given some of the relative unknown names he's brought in over the last few windows along with the very well known Brandon Vázquez.
Relying on a left back and a couple of VerDos players (the best of them requiring an international slot, thereby making elevation to a supplemental deal a much harder sell) for three months to round out a center back rotation doesn't seem wise, but it does seem doable barring further injuries.
Certainly, there's a plan in place — when we get to talk to Borrell again, I'm sure we'll hear that the Väisänen deal was months in the works, and perhaps by then, the grand plan for center back (plus the other current open roster spots) will be fully revealed.
Until then, it's a vaguely uncomfortable situation that Verde fans know all too well. There might indeed be a point in the near-future where you might even say, "We could use Leo Väisänen about now." But it's more likely that you'll say, no later than August, "Borrell effectively turned Väisänen into New Player X" — whoever that might be.
Then again, it might be sooner.
Until you hear officially, check in on Tom Bogert's social media accounts, put on your metaphorical "What would Rodo do?" bracelet, and contemplate the options.
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via Bluesky.
On Monday morning, Austin FC announced news that was already out there already — center back Leo Väisänen has moved from Austin FC to Swedish club BK Hacken, and although the club doesn't announce financials on such moves, rumors swirling around the move set the transfer fee at $550,000.
The final numbers on Väisänen aren't hugely impressive — one goal and one assist in a little under 2,600 MLS minutes, with only 13 appearances and nine starts in 2024 and no appearances at all this season.
The right LCL tear knocking him out of the 2023 U.S. Open Cup loss against Chicago Fire FC is, in a sad way, a defining moment for his time at the club, setting in motion an injury history that persisted into 2024, including a puzzling end-of-season shutdown that then-Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff intimated was very much Väisänen's decision.
While the 27-year-old did show promise at points in his time at Austin, and seemed a solid character guy when healthy and able to play, he did also command a TAM-level salary not commensurate with his contributions. And while he did allow me to perfect the "control-U followed by A" keystroke sequence to get the umlauts right in his name, this doesn't have the same level of shocking goodbye that, say, the Diego Fagundez move had.
Even before the latest round of rumors, some of us surmised a move like this might be in the works.
That leaves Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell with some short-term and long-term considerations about what to do at center back.
The case for waiting until summer
The primary transfer window ends April 23, and the secondary transfer window starts July 24. With Julio Cascante getting time in Sunday's win over San Diego FC, Verde will have three healthy available first-team center backs again once Oleksandr Svatok returns from international duty.
Guilherme Biro stepped in at center back for the bulk of Sunday's match – shifting from center back to left back to finish out the full 90 once Cascante came on — and accounted well for himself. That, combined with Žan Kolmanič having a good outing at left back, means that Verde effectively has a four-center-back rotation if you count Biro as one of the four.
The team also has the ability to bring in Antonio Gomez and Nico Van Rijn from VerDos on three additional Short-Term Agreements each (with two appearances in those three call-ups). Gomez and Van Rijn were called up together on Sunday, but if they're staggered over six matches, that gets the team through six of the 18 matches between now and the start of the summer window.
With Väisänen's exit, Borrell has three senior roster spots, and two of those are international. If the goal is to get a center back to push for a starting role, waiting until summer likely expands the pool of players to Europe, which is where Borrell has looked to remake much of the lineup over the last few windows.
The case for acting now
There's no guarantee that players will stay healthy, and though Verde's defense has emerged as one of the best even with early-season injuries to Cascante and Mikkel Desler, 2023 showed how just a couple of back line injuries can have a cascading impact on a team's ability to defend. The fundamentals might be sounder this year under head coach Nico Estévez, but there's increased risk in losing additional first-choice pieces.
If there's a domestic target in mind that could plug and play from a pool of out-of-contract or out-of-favor center backs, it could help Verde to have a more stable back line in the short term, and then allow Borrell to go after two difference-making attackers or midfielders to challenge some of the more underperforming ones still getting significant minutes.
The Matt Hedges signing in 2023 was concerning because of the spend required, complicating the already-pressurized salary budget when he was brought on board, but the idea was sound: Get a center back who knows the league well enough to step in without benefit of a preseason with the squad.
Certainly, head coach Josh Wolff had a greater comfort level plugging Hedges into the squad without significant onboarding, compared to earlier stopgap measure Aleksandar Radovanović, who arrived on loan March 22, 2023, and didn't get a start until May 17, getting seven appearances total (four of those starts) before he was back off to Europe.
But Estévez isn't Wolff, and it's possible that a center back signing now could work into the defense he's built in his first year – already impressive in some key metrics – compared to the Wolff Era defenses that ranged from middle-of-the-pack to among the league's worst. (Consider they let in anywhere from 48 to 56 goals a season in their first four, and save for their debut season when they were 19th in tackles plus interceptions, finished 26th at best in that category the other three years, including dead last in that stat in 2022 (the good year).
Choose your own adventure (as Rodo)
What you would do might be different from what Borrell would do, even if you feel you've got a sense of Borrell's master plan, which you likely don't given some of the relative unknown names he's brought in over the last few windows along with the very well known Brandon Vázquez.
Relying on a left back and a couple of VerDos players (the best of them requiring an international slot, thereby making elevation to a supplemental deal a much harder sell) for three months to round out a center back rotation doesn't seem wise, but it does seem doable barring further injuries.
Certainly, there's a plan in place — when we get to talk to Borrell again, I'm sure we'll hear that the Väisänen deal was months in the works, and perhaps by then, the grand plan for center back (plus the other current open roster spots) will be fully revealed.
Until then, it's a vaguely uncomfortable situation that Verde fans know all too well. There might indeed be a point in the near-future where you might even say, "We could use Leo Väisänen about now." But it's more likely that you'll say, no later than August, "Borrell effectively turned Väisänen into New Player X" — whoever that might be.
Then again, it might be sooner.
Until you hear officially, check in on Tom Bogert's social media accounts, put on your metaphorical "What would Rodo do?" bracelet, and contemplate the options.
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via Bluesky.
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