FC Dallas has announced the permanent transfer of forward Leo Chu to FC Alverca of Liga Portugal, the top division of soccer in Portugal.
FC Alverca was recently acquired by a consortium which is headlined by Real Madrid C.F. and Brazilian star Vinicius Jr. FC Alverca earned promotion to Liga Portugal for the 2025-26 season after finishing second in Liga Portugal 2 last year.
Chu made four appearances and scored one goal this season. Dallas acquired Chu from Seattle in the 2025 offseason as part of the blockbuster deal that sent former Homegrown forward Jesus Ferreira to the Sounders. With the Sounders, Chu played in 79 games, scoring seven goals and 14 assists. The Brazilian winger won the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League title with the Sounders.
Prior to joining Seattle, Chu made 38 appearances for Brazilian side Grêmio and was loaned to then Série A side Ceará Sporting Club from 2019-21, recording five goals across all competitions.
Quick BDS Take
I already gave a few thoughts on this move when it was being discussed earlier this week. Chu's time in Dallas was as brief as you can get.
His exit means FC Dallas has a little more flexibility this summer in the transfer window that opens up in a couple of weeks time. They'll now have a U-22 slot to work with, which could come in handy should Enes Sali return from his loan. That could allow FC Dallas to switch roster profiles back to a DP model if they want to for the remaining months of the 2025 season.
The only question with this one is what kind of transfer fee did FC Dallas earn on this one, with Seattle picking up a decent portion of the sale-0n fee as part of that trade. I think at best we're looking at a few hundred thousand dollars for FC Dallas in this deal, and that feels a bit generous, too.
