Our 2024 FC Dallas player recaps continue with veteran defender Omar Gonzalez.

FC Dallas was finally able to bring home the Dallas native, as he signed a cap-friendly supplemental roster deal ahead of the 2024 season.

Stat breakdown

Gonzalez wasn’t expected to be a regular starter for FC Dallas when he was brought to the team this season. All preseason long, the expectation for him was to play 8-15 games, but he exceeded that mark with 10 starts in 15 appearances.

Those ten starts were actually more than what he had in his previous two seasons in New England.

The 36-year old had four tackles, 13 blocks, four interceptions and 43 clearances. He had a 92% passing accuracy (which shouldn’t be that surprising for a center back, you want those numbers in the low to mid 90s), with one key pass and 15 progressive passes.

Highlight

Well, there wasn’t a true highlight clip we could get for the veteran. The small number of minutes played compared to the other defensive players we’ve covered so far in our player recap series.

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Should we expect him back in 2025?

This is a tricky one when you factor in that his salary doesn’t count against the salary cap due to him being on the supplemental roster. As much as I like having a true veteran on the supplemental roster, FC Dallas needs to get back to its roots with younger players occupying those slots.

Still, depending on how the roster moves go down this month, you don’t want to have a leadership void anywhere on the roster. Gonzalez was someone that motivated players in the locker room, even on the toughest of days when the team was struggling. That kind of thing is hard to replicate.

Final thoughts

In all honesty, I think we got what we expected out of Gonzalez in 2024. He wasn’t meant to be a regular starter, and had he started more than the 10 games we saw him start, it would have meant the injury situation for the center backs was probably even worse than what it was in 2024.

What the club is going to have to weigh with him is whether or not they want to keep a strong voice in the locker room that can motivate and lead the younger players. His experience in this league (and in Liga MX) is valuable to a club like FC Dallas, even if it isn’t translating into a lot of minutes on the field.

I think if Jimmy Maurer does move into the front office this winter, retaining Gonzalez may make a lot of sense from a morale standpoint in the locker room.