It is time for another FC Dallas player recap from the 2025 season, with a look at Anderson Julio.
The Ecuadorian was one of the surprise additions to the roster in 2025. FC Dallas sent Sam Junqua to Real Salt Lake in exchange for Julio in an offseason trade. Let’s dive into Julio’s first season in Dallas.
Stat breakdown
By the end of the season, Julio finished second in the team in scoring with six goals, a majority that game early on in the season.
| Name | Games Played | Games Started | Minutes | Goals | Assists | SOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderson Julio | 25 | 17 | 1578 | 6 | 1 | 18 |
Let’s dive into some fancy graphs and charts on Julio’s season.
For me, the thing that stands out about his 2025 performance is that he’s not a 90 minute player. His speed and bursts of energy typically means he crashes out around the 65th minute. It took FC Dallas manager Eric Quill a while to figure that out this season.
Also, in both systems for Quill this year (the 4-2-3-1 and the 5-2-3), Julio is a bit of a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. At times it works with his speed in both systems, but for the most part he doesn’t provide a big enough impact on the field as a starter. But he does defend well, which helps out in a system that allows other teams to possess the ball more.
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Highlight
We’re going back to the win in Miami for this one, as Julio showed exactly why you have him on the field with his speed late in games.
Will he be back in 2026?
FC Dallas has one more option year left on Julio’s current contract. At a base salary of $750,000 (with total compensation exceeding $800k), the club is going to have to figure out if he truly fits the plans for Quill going forward. Being second in the team in scoring helps, but is six goals enough to justify the cost?
Final thoughts
At the beginning of the year, I really wanted to see what Petar Musa and Julio could do on the field together. I thought with Musa’s hold up play, he could really benefit from a guy like Julio on the wings with his speed.
At times, we got to see that and it worked fine but as the season went on, Julio picked up a knock and Logan Farrington began earning more minutes next to Musa. Julio really seemed like the odd man out at times. Julio earned plenty of minutes late in the season, sometimes out of necessity like on Decision Day in Vancouver when both Musa and Farrington were suspended. He, along with Sam Sarver, helped push the team into the playoffs.
All of that makes me wonder if the good vibes will help carry Julio to another year here or if FC Dallas will look to re-sign him to a new deal that lowers his salary cap hit a bit. I could get on board with that logic if it comes to it. But that means Quill has to find the right spot for him to be successful in 2026.
