Myrto Uzuni is Verde, and a heliocentric No. 10 is probably not
With the final designated player of the offseason officially in, what's left for Rodolfo Borrell's roster remake?
One of the worst-kept secrets of this MLS offseason has finally become official.
Myrto Uzuni, the Albanian goal-scoring striker/winger from Granada, is now officially Austin FC's latest designated player signing, the club announced Friday.
Uzuni, who will take the No. 10 jersey surprisingly abandoned by Sebastián Driussi in an epic transfer saga, had one notable boast in his club-issued press release: "I’m coming here to break records."
Whether he really said "One of the main reasons I want to join Austin FC is the ambition that Anthony Precourt and Rodolfo Borrell have for this team, which matches my own ambition always to succeed with a winning mentality" is up for you to decide.
(He did also allegedly say, "I can tell Austin fans that I will do everything in my power to score goals and help the team push toward achieving our objectives," which appears conveniently said to continue the fan-forward charm offensive that the club has been on this season, not that y'all mind, I'm sure.)
Myrto Uzuni is (finally) Verde (in his Ferencvaros Budapest days; this isn't the actual new Austin FC home kit (as you all know by now) (sbonsi/Shutterstock.com)
What it means (aside from the aforementioned Precourt and Borrell deciding to spend a reported $12 million of Precourt's money) is that Verde's offseason heading into 2025 looks a lot like the LA Galaxy's 2024 offseason.
Spending a lot on offensive talent worked for the Galaxy: They got two outstanding front-line players, Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil, that allowed them to fashion a Killa Ps nickname for the duo and Riqui Puig, who joined Dejan Joveljić to each notch at least 10 goals and 10 assists en route to winning an MLS Cup.
We see your Killa Ps and raise you a UVB
We should probably slow our roll a bit on Austin FC MLS Cup talk, but with a new all-designated player front line of Uzuni, Brandon Vázquez, and Osman Bukari, which I'm christening UVB (as in the sunburn-inducing ultraviolet rays, which admittedly is not quite as cool as Killa Ps), Verde fans should expect to make the playoffs on talent aggregation alone.
What the Uzuni move does also do, coming shortly after the move to bring in Besard Šabović, is leave Borrell with just one senior roster spot to fill. While that's good looking through the lens of 2024's thin-rostered stumble out of the starting gate, it also means that Austin probably won't be able to move a true heliocentric attacking central midfielder (a No. 10, using soccer terminology) this season.
Borrell's still capable of surprise, but looking at the signings and head coach Nico Estévez's early flirtations with a 4-4-2 formation, look for Verde to rely on Šabović, Owen Wolff, and Dani Pereira to connect Ilie Sánchez and the back four with the front three.
Will that work? That's the looming question over the offseason heading to the Feb. 22 opener, but that's a much better looming question than "Who's going to play striker?" or "Does Driussi have a comeback year in him?"
We discussed this in the latest Emergency Podcast, which went live this morning, and it will shape our next few weeks of coverage.
A programming note!
If you're reading this from your inbox, it came from our new home at verdeallday.com. We're still working out some back-end weirdness, but know that if you want to read articles on the site, you should sign in and then enter your email address. If you're in our system as a member, you'll get a login button through your email account. If you're a paid member, that gets you access to all the paywalled content just like it did on Substack.
And if something doesn't work, please email us so we can troubleshoot.
There's one weird thing we're aware of ... when you review your account, all paid members are listed in a tier that shouldn't actually exist called Just the First Team. If you're on the standard paid membership, you can set it to Standard from Just the First Team and it will behave like normal. If you are a Founding member, we'll move you to that tier accordingly.
If you want a little more to your account, including a monthly roundup that will have some fun excerpts (which we'll preview for all paid members next week), there's a new Premium tier you can join for a bit more this month.
But whatever level of support you offer, we're deeply appreciative!
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.
(By the way, that link goes to the new Verde All Day account on Bluesky; you can still reach Phil West there as well.)
One of the worst-kept secrets of this MLS offseason has finally become official.
Myrto Uzuni, the Albanian goal-scoring striker/winger from Granada, is now officially Austin FC's latest designated player signing, the club announced Friday.
Uzuni, who will take the No. 10 jersey surprisingly abandoned by Sebastián Driussi in an epic transfer saga, had one notable boast in his club-issued press release: "I’m coming here to break records."
Whether he really said "One of the main reasons I want to join Austin FC is the ambition that Anthony Precourt and Rodolfo Borrell have for this team, which matches my own ambition always to succeed with a winning mentality" is up for you to decide.
(He did also allegedly say, "I can tell Austin fans that I will do everything in my power to score goals and help the team push toward achieving our objectives," which appears conveniently said to continue the fan-forward charm offensive that the club has been on this season, not that y'all mind, I'm sure.)
What it means (aside from the aforementioned Precourt and Borrell deciding to spend a reported $12 million of Precourt's money) is that Verde's offseason heading into 2025 looks a lot like the LA Galaxy's 2024 offseason.
Spending a lot on offensive talent worked for the Galaxy: They got two outstanding front-line players, Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil, that allowed them to fashion a Killa Ps nickname for the duo and Riqui Puig, who joined Dejan Joveljić to each notch at least 10 goals and 10 assists en route to winning an MLS Cup.
We see your Killa Ps and raise you a UVB
We should probably slow our roll a bit on Austin FC MLS Cup talk, but with a new all-designated player front line of Uzuni, Brandon Vázquez, and Osman Bukari, which I'm christening UVB (as in the sunburn-inducing ultraviolet rays, which admittedly is not quite as cool as Killa Ps), Verde fans should expect to make the playoffs on talent aggregation alone.
What the Uzuni move does also do, coming shortly after the move to bring in Besard Šabović, is leave Borrell with just one senior roster spot to fill. While that's good looking through the lens of 2024's thin-rostered stumble out of the starting gate, it also means that Austin probably won't be able to move a true heliocentric attacking central midfielder (a No. 10, using soccer terminology) this season.
Borrell's still capable of surprise, but looking at the signings and head coach Nico Estévez's early flirtations with a 4-4-2 formation, look for Verde to rely on Šabović, Owen Wolff, and Dani Pereira to connect Ilie Sánchez and the back four with the front three.
Will that work? That's the looming question over the offseason heading to the Feb. 22 opener, but that's a much better looming question than "Who's going to play striker?" or "Does Driussi have a comeback year in him?"
We discussed this in the latest Emergency Podcast, which went live this morning, and it will shape our next few weeks of coverage.
A programming note!
If you're reading this from your inbox, it came from our new home at verdeallday.com. We're still working out some back-end weirdness, but know that if you want to read articles on the site, you should sign in and then enter your email address. If you're in our system as a member, you'll get a login button through your email account. If you're a paid member, that gets you access to all the paywalled content just like it did on Substack.
And if something doesn't work, please email us so we can troubleshoot.
There's one weird thing we're aware of ... when you review your account, all paid members are listed in a tier that shouldn't actually exist called Just the First Team. If you're on the standard paid membership, you can set it to Standard from Just the First Team and it will behave like normal. If you are a Founding member, we'll move you to that tier accordingly.
If you want a little more to your account, including a monthly roundup that will have some fun excerpts (which we'll preview for all paid members next week), there's a new Premium tier you can join for a bit more this month.
But whatever level of support you offer, we're deeply appreciative!
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.
(By the way, that link goes to the new Verde All Day account on Bluesky; you can still reach Phil West there as well.)
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