Our 2024 FC Dallas player recaps continue with Designated Player Petar Musa.
FC Dallas went out in the preseason and paid a club-record fee to sign a Designated Player that would help improve their attack. The signing was a big deal at the time and after his first full season in Frisco, this signing appears to be money well spent by the Hunts.
Stat breakdown
We said a lot going into the season that Musa would succeed in Dallas if he had the right type of service. That was very true early on in the season. You could see his movement on and off the ball, followed at times by some frustration that he wasn’t getting the service he needed.
But once we hit the spring, he started to cook. He scored in four straight league games between the end of April and early May. Once former head coach Nico Estevez was let go, he really started to cook in the summer under Peter Luccin. He scored eight goals between early June and mid-July before the League’s Cup break.
Musa ended the season with 16 goals and three assists. He earned an All-Star Game nomination.
Aside from the goals and assists, Musa had 86 shots with 28 on target this season. His goals per shots on target was 0.54. Interestingly enough, his average shot distance was 18 yards. I think going into next year, the club needs to find better ways to get him shooting inside the penalty area.
He only scored once outside of the penalty area:
From the Fbref graphic, you can see his defensive numbers are actually really good compared to other MLS strikers. Though, saying that, he doesn’t tackle a lot. He only had 12 tackles in 2024, with only two of those in the attacking third.
Highlight
Okay, it was difficult to go through all of his goals and find ‘the’ highlight of his season. So, I’ll give you all a couple of my favorites.
The first is his goal in Seattle. His movement on and off the ball is so important to this team’s attack.
I don’t know how many times I said something along the lines of ‘if the club can just get him the ball in the penalty area, he’ll do the rest’ this season. Yeah, goals like these two really point to that idea.
I also think one thing he doesn’t get a ton of credit for here is his speed. When he needs to turn it on, he really can.
What should we expect from him in 2025?
For some folks, I think seeing more goals is an easy starter of what we want to see and should expect from him in 2025.
I do think the big thing to keep an eye out for is whether or not the club retains Jesus Ferreira and Alan Velasco this winter. I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not both will be back but if they both do return, we need to see the service from those two to Musa improved.
Those three didn’t get a ton of time on the field together in 2024 (largely because of Velasco’s recovery but also Ferreira’s injury issues), but the limited time we did see the three together, it was a nice starting point.
Will Musa get more than 16 goals next year? If FC Dallas wants to be a playoff team again, we need him to score that amount again.
Final thoughts
I have to admit, I had a lot of doubts that I didn’t express too often going into this year about having a guy like Musa on the team. We’ve seen European players come here in the past and struggle to fit in and do well. But Musa wasn’t in that same mold. He showed he was willing to push the team and make things happen. He also appeared to be happy here, which goes a long way.
As we move into 2025, teams will be more keen to keep an eye on Musa and frustrate him around the penalty area. Dallas will need to continue to find ways to allow Musa to be himself on the field next season. And more importantly, find ways to get him the damn ball inside the penalty area.
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