2023 FC Dallas Player Recaps: Jesus Jimenez
2023 FC Dallas Player Recaps: Jesus Jimenez
Is Jimenez another Franco Jara for FC Dallas?
Our 2023 FC Dallas player recaps continue with attacker Jesus Jimenez.
The Spaniard came to FC Dallas early in the season via a trade with Toronto FC for Homegrown Brandon Servania. At the time, it felt like this was the right move for FC Dallas to add to their attack and give Jesus Ferreira some support since Jimenez was coming off a nine-goal season in 2022 with Toronto. After 22 appearances, Jimenez was goalless in 2023.
Stat breakdown
Injuries certainly played a factor in the rough season for the veteran forward. After playing in 33 games with Toronto in 22, Jimenez only appeared in 22 with FC Dallas in 2023. He picked up three assists in eight starts but saw his playing time diminish as the season wore on.
His stats from Fbref do seem a tad misleading when you factor in the minutes played (a good 1500 less than guys like Jesus Ferreira).
Highlight
His highlight package is tough to sort out when he only picked up assists. You have to go all the way back to the road game in Miami to see what he is capable of in the attack.
What can we expect from him in 2024?
Toronto was on the hook for JImenez’s hefty salary in 2023, but that won’t be the case in 2024. Nico Estevez has to find a way to get Jimenez comfortable in his style of play and get him to return to those moments that we saw out of him early on when he joined the team back in March.
If he stays in Dallas, he needs to be healthy for the year. From there, finding more minutes and starts would likely go a long way into helping him regain that 2022 form that saw him score nine goals.
Final thoughts
I know a lot of you who played our “You Be the GM” game a few weeks ago voted to buy out Jimenez and move on. Look, I’m right there with you, but I have a gut feeling that won’t happen when you factor in that FC Dallas will be without Alan Velasco for the majority of the season next year. I know Jimenez and Velasco aren’t like-for-like in the attack, but with a team that struggled offensively as much as FCD did in 2023, you kind of need anyone you can get to help facilitate the attack.
The other factor to think about here is Jimenez didn’t get a full preseason training camp with the team. Those moments go a long way for players and could be very valuable to helping him out in 2024.
Lastly, he’ll be in a contract year in a way with FCD as they will have a club option on him in 2025. Maybe he plays a bit harder or better because of that. Or maybe FCD is able to find a trade partner for him along the way.
Still, that is a hefty $1 million salary sitting on the books that didn’t score any goals in 2023. Very tough pill to swallow.
There is ABSOLUTELY no reason to keep this guy in the team. He HAS to go. That highlight of him pulling out of a challenge in a playoff game shows he has no respect for this team. He has done nothing to deserve more money for being on the team. Use his spot to find someone who wants to play here.
Massive disappointment and I will go so far as to say Jara at least looked like he was trying when he entered the game. That being said, after reading this I am again hopeful of a starting lineup with him at Striker and Jesus at deep playmaker striker or shadow and see if a 4-4-2 could bear more attacking fruit. That only happened once or twice last season. (KC game comes to mind in June)