After having a bit of a dud in September for our Subscriber Q&A, you all brought it big in October. Thanks again for everyone who took time to submit questions. I think these will start to be a monthly thing, especially in the offseason.

We have a lot of great questions to dive into, so let’s not waste any more time here. 

A coach not named Peter Luccin or Eric Quill? Boy, I hate to break it to you but the Hunts aren’t the type of owners to go outside of their comfort zone with a coaching hire. I’m sure Andre Zanotta probably has five or six options in South America in mind, though. I just don’t believe we’ll ever see any of them in Frisco. 

I’ll toss some cold water on Quill. He signed a new contract extension in New Mexico recently. As good of a year as he’s had in the USL Championship, I don’t think he’s going to be the answer here if the club opts to go a different way from Luccin. 

But there are other options I would suggest keeping a watch on this winter if Luccin ends up not being the guy:

  1. Javier Morales - He’s a former FC Dallas player that has a lot of MLS experience as both a player, academy coach and now assistant coach in Miami. I have to wonder if FCD will wait for Miami to finish their season to go after him, though.
  2. Josema Bazan - He was a long-time assistant to Oscar Pareja here in Frisco and then went with him to Orlando for a few seasons. He is currently an assistant coach in Mexico with Pumas. Given the Hunt’s knowledge of him and his knowledge of MLS, this could be a solid fit. 
  3. Dave van den Bergh - Another assist in MLS (for a long time). He also has some experience in Dallas as a player, though that time ended with him not loving things here. Maybe time has healed those issues for him. 

I know some folks would love to see a Hugo Perez type of coach get a shot here but I don’t see the club going for coach with no MLS experience. If this were six years ago, maybe. But the Hunts at least know they need to get someone who understands coaching in MLS.

After the summer window that saw Boca Juniors come pretty aggressively for Velasco, that fear is justified. 

I’d put Velasco’s odds at leaving around 60% right now. It could go higher given how well his recovery went for his ACL injury he picked up this time last year. The fact that he will likely have played in eight games this season is very impressive.

We know that FC Dallas wants at least $12 million or so with some sell on percentages to ship out the young Argentine. The winter window is a tricky time to get someone to pay that sort of thing. I don’t think South American club will be able to come in and offer that kind of money. But, I know FCD would be more comfortable getting him to a European club if the right one comes calling. 

Ferreira is a tricky one, I’ll discuss him a bit more below in other question. I’d put him leaving more at 30% right now. 

We know he nearly went to Russia in January had MLS not stepped in and put the kabash on that move. The money was in the area that the club thought he deserved to get but I can’t imagine he’s worth that much on the open market right now. 

I know it isn’t a perfect metric to go off of but TransferMarkt saw him go from a $9 million value down to a $6 million one this year. Being injured on and off really hurt his value for the club. 

And Paul…I don’t see them moving him this winter. But I get where you are coming from with his salary. He’s not a $1 million player in MLS right now. 

Well Joe, this is the Hunts we’re talking about. I’d love to think they’d go out and spend big this winter but they have a lot of work to make that happen. 

I like Carrera but I don’t know if he is actually the keeper of the future for this club just yet. Farrington on the other hand looks like a quality MLS player for years to come but I’m not convinced he’s one you build around. 

But, let’s play the game that they do splash some cash for the sake of it here. A lot of things will really depend on who they keep or let go when the roster announcements are made but I’m going to assume they are rebuilding a good chunk of the defense, while retaining guys like Asier Illarramendi and Ruan for another year. 

Out of the four you mention as possible sells, let’s say they sell Paes and Velasco. That opens up a DP slot or gives them the chance to switch to the U22 style roster (though they’ve struggled with that sort of thing). Selling one or two guys gives you allocation to pay down some contracts, while also potentially opening up the opportunity to get more TAM-level guys on the roster. 

For me, opening up those spots and having some serious cash in flux from those sales would assist in a full rebuild. 

My gut tells me we won’t see this happen this winter. They likely won’t sell any of those guys and will only be able to work through shedding some salary on the roster that they do have via trades and not picking up options (they have a few that would open up some decent cash). 

Sean, always bringing the multiple questions. Love it. I talked about the coaching part above but I think I can quickly address the others. 

Top postions: Center back and center back. Yeah, I’m not even kidding with that. But if I have to go take another crack at it, it really comes down to the coach and type of formation they’ll use in 2025. I do think we still need another right back, even with Geovane Jesus returning from his ACL injury (given how long his recovery has taken, I’m not sold he’ll be back to 100% in early 2025). 

Youth issues: I had a piece recently on the Homegrown issues the club has had recently. A big part of it was due to how Nico Estevez handled his roster. There were plenty of guys in the pipeline that opted to go elsewhere because Estevez didn’t want to tab into that young talent. 

The other part for me may have more to do with that after the Tessmann, Pepi, Reynolds, and Richards era of the academy to NTSC to FCD. There was a bit of a talent gap in the youth behind them. The club just had a couple of ‘down’ years in terms of talent that was ready for the next level. Thankfully, I think that down time is coming to an end as we’re seeing a North Texas team that is finding wins with academy talent one week and then FCD backups the next. Some things just take time.

Zanotta: I saw FCD’s former technical director Luiz Muzzi before Orlando’s game in Frisco last month. We caught up for a few minutes and I left the conversation reminded of how good of a person and talent he is. Look what what he’s done in Orlando since joining Oscar Pareja there. They had a 60+ point season last year and now look like a real threat in the East to make a run again. 

I like Zanotta. He’s always friendly to me and does well to answer media questions. I just wonder at this point if he fully gets MLS. He’s assembled a roster with a lot of iffy contracts. He’s utilized the supplemental roster in a way that hasn’t worked (again, I like a veteran slot there, but using a couple of slots on veterans is maybe a bit too risky). I think he’s done well at some negotiations with players and transfers, but for every Musa and Velasco, you have some bloated contracts like Eugene Ansah or Jose Martinez.

I don’t see the Hunts moving on from him though right now. 

Ferreira: What is funny, when you say you’re getting Kellyn Acosta vibes, I had the same thoughts a couple of games ago. It is a weird gut feeling, huh? I do worry that the club valued him too high for too long and that is going to come back to bite them when any offer does come in for Ferreira. He’s not going to get them $10 million anymore but if you get a deal this winter for $5 or $6 million, I think you take it and open up a DP slot.