He didn't talk about this at the media availability: Austin FC's Nico Estevez discusses the team's evolution, but not a rumored Christian Ramirez signing
He didn't talk about this at the media availability: Austin FC's Nico Estevez discusses the team's evolution, but not a rumored Christian Ramirez signing
At Thursday's media availability, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez talked about a more exciting attack. Perhaps it has been made more exciting with the surprise addition of an aging but capable No. 9.
We got news about Austin FC in two different ways on Thursday.
One was the conventional weekly media availability from Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, in which we learned the fate (sometimes directly, sometimes cryptically) of injured players heading into Sunday afternoon's match against D.C. United.
And then, in the late afternoon (while in a P. Terry's drive-thru line getting my daughter a burger snack), this drop from Tom Bogert about a surprising and new Austin FC signing — apparently on a supplemental, to the delight of those Verde fans fond of saying regarding possible signings coming up in conversation, "I'd take him on a supplemental."
🇺🇸🟢 BREAKING: Austin FC has signed forward Christian Ramirez, per sources.
Ramirez was surprisingly placed on waivers by LA Galaxy just before season started for salary cap reasons. Austin wins out waiver process and adds the forward.
Yes, that Christian Ramírez, who acquired the nickname "Superman" while at Minnesota United nearly a decade ago, meaning that he's got something in common with Brandon Vázquez.
In a separate skeet, Bogert wrote, "Austin FC will pay $225k of Ramirez’s budget charge this year. Current deal ends after season." Two things strike me here:
A supplemental deal is indeed possible given the budget charge; and
The Galaxy bought Ramírez out and had to place him on waivers for roster compliance reasons. This is exactly a year and a week after the Galaxy put Sean Davis on waivers for roster compliance reasons ... after signing him earlier in the offseason in a trade sending Gaston Brugman to Nashville, fresh off his hero turn replacing Riqui Puig as chief catalyst in the 2024 MLS Cup.
(I think the Galaxy are overrated in all sorts of ways, including front office ways.)
But let's get to some quick Nico-talking-to-media notes first.
He came prepared with notes
Our own Moisés Chiullan came right out of the gate with injury update questions; Estévez grinned, said he knew we'd be asking about that, and pulled out a sheet of paper with all the updates, including:
Vázquez is about a month away from seeing game action, but is now participating in position drills;
Mikkel Desler is a participant (though not a full participant) in training this week (so expect him to debut by our estimate, should he progress accordingly, in the Charlotte match on March 7);
Owen Wolff is still recovering from sports hernia surgery (so it sounds like the St. Louis match on March 14 might be his earliest chance to get minutes in, unless he is healed by divine providence);
Robert Taylor is "recovering well," but "TBD for Sunday," indicating that his knee injury isn't severe; and
Jayden Nelson is fine. (He came out of the opener with cramps around minute 70.)
They're fun again
Well, one game scoring two goals might not convince you that Verde is a fun non-stop party, but Estévez is emboldened.
"We can see a team that is more vertical, that is more going forward, that we don't want to lose much time on building if it's clear that we can be vertical," he said. "But we also use the building up to create the spaces in between the lines or around, and this is what we have to keep improving, [to] be cleaner in those situations. I think we had also really good moments on offensive transition when we could get more out of that, but we weren't clean enough to do [that]."
Granting that they can still improve in some areas, he added, "We want to be a team that is fun to watch, that when the fans come to the game, and when people are watching [on] TV, the feedback is that we are fun to watch, that [this] is a team that goes forward and wants to score goals ... that the team and the quality of the key pieces of the team allow us to do that."
Keen competition
Jon Gallagher, also speaking to media on Thursday, weighed in on the overall quality of the squad this year.
"It's just more of a competitive environment in amongst the locker room, a lot of quality players fighting for spots and ultimately all trying to achieve the same goal," he said. "But I think we saw a lot of positive moments on the weekend in terms of just quality on the ball, defending, attacking throughout the 90 minutes. And we felt like it was a game we probably should have had three points."
But it's not all work and no play.
"With every year, we have a different vibe in the locker room. This year, we're very together. We're doing a lot of stuff in preseason. We're doing a lot of team events planned by the players, not just through the staff. We're throwing barbecues. Guys are barbecuing for the entire team. I think that's just something different we might not have had in previous years."
So, let's talk Ramírez
While bringing in Christian Ramírez isn't quite the same as bringing in 41-year-old veteran Kei Kamara — and yes, part of me really did want Austin to be his 13th MLS team — the 34-year-old Ramírez isn't as far off from Kamara territory as you might initially think.
Should the report pan out (and with Bogert when he goes up with these, it usually does), Austin will be Ramírez's sixth MLS team. Ramírez got to MLS in a "the border crossed me" move, signing with the NASL version of Minnesota United before it became an MLS expansion team in 2017. He played there for two years, then moved to LAFC, then to the Dynamo, then after playing with Aberdeen in the Scottish Premier League (a city farther north than Moscow and Copenhagen; sounds fun), arrived in Columbus (where he won an MLS Cup) and then the Galaxy.
If you're wondering what 2025 Ramírez looked like on a radar chart, you're familiar with the player who was his 2025 radar chart twin: Myrto Uzuni.
That's uncanny. He's a better chance creator, and scores decently more per 90, but the other numbers are alarmingly similar.
While it's unclear how he'll be utilized (you know, if he really is going to be Verde), I predict he'll be in the four goal/two assist range as a late-game supersub to help transition from Uzuni to Vázquez. (Ramírez had four goals and an assist in 2025 for the Galaxy in 915 MLS minutes last season.)
Also: He mostly has worn No. 17 throughout his career, which Jon Gallagher has been wearing his entire tenure with Verde. But Ramirez entered the league wearing No. 21, and my prediction is that what he'll end up with. (In Aberdeen, he wore No. 99, which has only been worn by one Verde player prior: Moussa Djitté, so that's a distant possibility.)
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.
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We got news about Austin FC in two different ways on Thursday.
One was the conventional weekly media availability from Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, in which we learned the fate (sometimes directly, sometimes cryptically) of injured players heading into Sunday afternoon's match against D.C. United.
And then, in the late afternoon (while in a P. Terry's drive-thru line getting my daughter a burger snack), this drop from Tom Bogert about a surprising and new Austin FC signing — apparently on a supplemental, to the delight of those Verde fans fond of saying regarding possible signings coming up in conversation, "I'd take him on a supplemental."
Yes, that Christian Ramírez, who acquired the nickname "Superman" while at Minnesota United nearly a decade ago, meaning that he's got something in common with Brandon Vázquez.
In a separate skeet, Bogert wrote, "Austin FC will pay $225k of Ramirez’s budget charge this year. Current deal ends after season." Two things strike me here:
(I think the Galaxy are overrated in all sorts of ways, including front office ways.)
But let's get to some quick Nico-talking-to-media notes first.
He came prepared with notes
Our own Moisés Chiullan came right out of the gate with injury update questions; Estévez grinned, said he knew we'd be asking about that, and pulled out a sheet of paper with all the updates, including:
They're fun again
Well, one game scoring two goals might not convince you that Verde is a fun non-stop party, but Estévez is emboldened.
"We can see a team that is more vertical, that is more going forward, that we don't want to lose much time on building if it's clear that we can be vertical," he said. "But we also use the building up to create the spaces in between the lines or around, and this is what we have to keep improving, [to] be cleaner in those situations. I think we had also really good moments on offensive transition when we could get more out of that, but we weren't clean enough to do [that]."
Granting that they can still improve in some areas, he added, "We want to be a team that is fun to watch, that when the fans come to the game, and when people are watching [on] TV, the feedback is that we are fun to watch, that [this] is a team that goes forward and wants to score goals ... that the team and the quality of the key pieces of the team allow us to do that."
Keen competition
Jon Gallagher, also speaking to media on Thursday, weighed in on the overall quality of the squad this year.
"It's just more of a competitive environment in amongst the locker room, a lot of quality players fighting for spots and ultimately all trying to achieve the same goal," he said. "But I think we saw a lot of positive moments on the weekend in terms of just quality on the ball, defending, attacking throughout the 90 minutes. And we felt like it was a game we probably should have had three points."
But it's not all work and no play.
"With every year, we have a different vibe in the locker room. This year, we're very together. We're doing a lot of stuff in preseason. We're doing a lot of team events planned by the players, not just through the staff. We're throwing barbecues. Guys are barbecuing for the entire team. I think that's just something different we might not have had in previous years."
So, let's talk Ramírez
While bringing in Christian Ramírez isn't quite the same as bringing in 41-year-old veteran Kei Kamara — and yes, part of me really did want Austin to be his 13th MLS team — the 34-year-old Ramírez isn't as far off from Kamara territory as you might initially think.
Should the report pan out (and with Bogert when he goes up with these, it usually does), Austin will be Ramírez's sixth MLS team. Ramírez got to MLS in a "the border crossed me" move, signing with the NASL version of Minnesota United before it became an MLS expansion team in 2017. He played there for two years, then moved to LAFC, then to the Dynamo, then after playing with Aberdeen in the Scottish Premier League (a city farther north than Moscow and Copenhagen; sounds fun), arrived in Columbus (where he won an MLS Cup) and then the Galaxy.
If you're wondering what 2025 Ramírez looked like on a radar chart, you're familiar with the player who was his 2025 radar chart twin: Myrto Uzuni.
That's uncanny. He's a better chance creator, and scores decently more per 90, but the other numbers are alarmingly similar.
While it's unclear how he'll be utilized (you know, if he really is going to be Verde), I predict he'll be in the four goal/two assist range as a late-game supersub to help transition from Uzuni to Vázquez. (Ramírez had four goals and an assist in 2025 for the Galaxy in 915 MLS minutes last season.)
Also: He mostly has worn No. 17 throughout his career, which Jon Gallagher has been wearing his entire tenure with Verde. But Ramirez entered the league wearing No. 21, and my prediction is that what he'll end up with. (In Aberdeen, he wore No. 99, which has only been worn by one Verde player prior: Moussa Djitté, so that's a distant possibility.)
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.
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