If we thought that FC Dallas trading a mountain of cash to secure Lucho Acosta from FC Cincinnati as the club’s Alan Velasco replacement was wild enough, new reports this week also suggest if the Acosta deal doesn’t work out, the team intends to be a big player in trading for Portland Timbers star Evander.
The Brazilian playmaker has been looking to leave Portland this winter, and like Acosta, would help set the pace for how the new cash trade market works in 2025.
Reports on Friday from both Kristen Dyer and Tom Bogert point to FC Dallas being one of the teams looking heavily at landing Evander.
Interesting one this morning...hearing that FC Dallas is aggressively looking for a replacement for Velasco.
— Kristian Dyer (@KristianRDyer) January 17, 2025
One player they're looking at? Evander from the Portland Timbers.
Source said that FC Dallas has made an initial bid of $12 million using the new cash rules in MLS.
And yes, you read that correctly. FC Dallas is putting in a initial bid of $12 million in cash to get Evander from Portland.
Evander has been with the Timbers for two seasons now and was one of the league's best players in 2024. Last season, he scored 15 goals and added 19 assists. His production was a little bit less in 2023 as he was adapting to a new city and league, but he still scored nine goals and added five assists in that season.
BDS Take
First off, apologies for not getting around to this news yesterday. The day job took over and I really only had a chance to react, briefly, on BlueSky and Twitter.
Again, I'll say like I did with the Acosta news on Thursday: This is excellent to see FC Dallas being a major player in this new cash trade system. Teams only get two of these deals a season according to the rules, so if you are going to take a swing at it, it should be a big one.
The $12 million figure makes sense when you consider Portland spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 million (a club record) to sign him in 2023. He's under contract through 2026
As much as I would be on board with Acosta joining FCD this season, I honestly would take Evander over him. He's just a tad younger (26 to Acosta's 30) and could really be a boost for this club. Not to mention, if we traded away two key players to a Western Conference rival, why not find a trade like this to help even things up a bit?
Again I'll say it, this has been a wild couple of months following this club.
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