Austin FC Weekly Newsletter: Two Games, Three Transfer Rumors, and Lots More!

A busy week of Austin FC games, rumors, and lots of smaller pieces of news comes to a close. Four points from two matches against the Revolution and Galaxy, followed by a crazy day of rumors surrounding Dani Pereira, headlined the week, while quite a bit more went down behind the scenes. Let's take a look at everything that happened in the Austin FC universe in the last 7 days.

New England Match Review

A frustrating 0-0 draw against the New England Revolution left Austin FC fans feeling that points had been dropped. Nico Estévez said it himself that “it’s a game that you win 9 out of 10 times.” Brad Stuver was the hero on the night, coming up big on multiple occasions and securing the point for the Verde and Black. Another big story from the match, however, was Uzuni’s continued poor finishing, missing a huge chance by hitting the keeper's foot from 6 yards out. With Austin missing 5 big chances and racking up 1.96 expected goals, it was yet another match highlighted by missed chances, poor finishing, and bad luck.

LA Galaxy Match Review

Goals from Myrto Uzuni and Owen Wolff propelled Austin FC to get all 3 points on the road in the club’s last trip to Southern California this regular season, with a 2-1 win over the LA Galaxy. Uzuni scored just his second goal of the MLS season by whipping in a banger from the edge of the box after a brilliant pass from Diego Rubio in the 40th minute. Just after the break, Uzuni beat his man on the 6-yard-box with a brilliant cut inside, but couldn’t put it away with his left foot. In the 63rd minute, Uzuni got on the end of his own blocked cross and tapped it past the keeper to Owen Wolff, who took a touch and slotted it past the Galaxy defenders covering the net. The win was not so comfortable, however, as Joseph Paintsil scored a rather soft penalty given away by Mikkel Desler in second-half stoppage time. It was a necessary win against sub-par opponents, something that needs to be replicated in the next 4 games, which are all against relatively poor teams, who all sit below the playoff line in their respective conferences.

Mateja Djordjević Transfer Rumor

On Friday morning, it was leaked by Mozzart Sport that Austin FC had signed Serbian center-back Metaja Djordjević in a $1.05 million deal from Serbian top-flight club FK TSC Bačka Topola. Djordjecić is a 22-year-old who has vast experience in all 3 European leagues and the Serbian top flight. Making appearances in Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League qualifiers, and making 7 appearances in the Conference League league stage, this would be a great signing to bring youth, competition, and depth to a position that desperately needs all three. This is not yet official, and has not been reported by any other sources, but the original source is a reputable Serbian newspaper, so this rumor is credible.

Dani Pereira Transfer Rumor

News broke Thursday morning that Austin FC was in the final stages of selling midfielder Dani Pereira to EFL Championship side Coventry City. The deal was reportedly worth nearly $4 million. This was met with mixed reactions across the Austin FC fanbase. Many fans were happy with the reported transfer fee, but others did not want the club's first draft pick to leave the Verde and Black just yet.

Just under 12 hours after the previous news broke, Tom Bogert dropped a bombshell, tweeting that the report from earlier in the day was not true, and Austin FC would not be selling Dani Pereira to Coventry. With Tom Bogert’s consistently accurate coverage and generally trustworthy reports, it is more likely than not that the original report was not totally accurate.

Yet another report dropped on Friday afternoon by a different journalist, reporting that there have been talks, and a move is still possible this window, but nothing concrete has been agreed upon as of yet. Only time will tell what ends up happening, but if the Venezuelan were to leave, hopefully, the transfer fee makes it worth it.

Dubersarsky Transfer Rumor

Rumors dropped on Monday night that River Plate had contacted the representatives of Nico Dubersarsky to see if a transfer would be plausible. With his limited minutes this season, and the signing of Nicky Beloko ahead of him, which will effectively block him from making any meaningful appearances, a move seems plausible. Given the transfer fee required to bring him in ($3 million), however, Austin would be asking at least the same amount or more, so it’s doubtful that River Plate would be willing to spend so much on a player with little match fitness for such a high price. A loan move could be on the table and would be much more reasonable for all parties involved.

Austin FC II Update

Austin FC II fell 4-2 to Western Conference leaders St. Louis City SC on Friday night at Parmer Field. Brett Uttley’s side fell 4-0 down before halftime, so goals by Ervin Torres and Jorge Alastuey late into the game had no impact on the final result. It was a disappointing result, considering these two sides had already met this season, producing a 0-0 result, but when you concede 4 in the first half, there really never will be a way back into the match.

On Wednesday, a new rumor dropped, as it was reported that Turkish left-back Batuhan Arıcı had terminated his contract with former club Umraniyespor, and is on his way to Austin to join the second team. The move is not official yet, but the player posted a farewell to his former club, so all signs point to the report being true. He will first be eligible to feature on July 25th against Houston Dynamo 2, should he sign his contract before that day.

FCito will head to the capital of Utah to face Real Monarchs, Real Salt Lake’s second team. Both sides sit on 24 points, with FCito sitting just behind the Monarchs due to a lesser goal differential. It will be a tightly contested match this Sunday, with the winner able to propel themselves into 5th place should other results fall in their favor. Kickoff is at 7:30pm on Sunday night, and the match can be streamed on Apple TV with MLS Season Pass.

Other News:

Austin FC Goalkeeper Coach

Austin FC goalkeeper coach Curro Galán has departed the club after just 6 months in the Texas capital. Formerly a goalkeeper coach at Shakhtar Donetsk, Al Raed, and the Atlético Madrid youth system before joining Austin FC, the Spaniard has left to join Getafe CF in La Liga, the first division of Spanish football. Galán posted a thank-you message on his Instagram on Tuesday afternoon before announcing that he had joined the Spanish outfit. Second-team goalkeeper coach Cameron Sauro is expected to take over the role for the time being.

Austin FC Adds 5 New Minority Owners

Austin FC announced on Monday night that the club has added 5 new minority owners. Let's take a brief look at each of them.

Jenny Just and Matt Hulsizer - Co-founders of PEAK6 Investments, a financial services and technology firm based in Austin. They have held shares in 2 Premier League clubs, AFC Bournemouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers, in the past.

Tench Coxe - Has served as a board member of Nvidia since 1993, accumulating enough stock to make him a billionaire.

Tanuj Gulati - An entrepreneur and investor who has started and run multiple cybersecurity companies, and is currently the co-founder and CTO of Securonix.

Dave Snyderman - Managing partner of Magnetar Capital for nearly 20 years.

No real change in terms of how the club operations will happen, as each of the new owners will hold non-controlling stakes in the club.

It was also announced by Sportico, shortly after the club’s announcement, that Austin FC’s market valuation had surpassed $900 million. This represents the sale value of the club and all of its assets, should Anthony Precourt decide to sell the club.

Schedule Updates

Austin FC’s US Open Cup match against Minnesota United on September 17th has been scheduled to take place at 7:00pm. The match will be available for streaming on Paramount+ or on the CBS Sports Golazo Network. Should the Verde and Black win, the US Open Cup final would take place at Q2 Stadium on October 1st.

Austin FC’s home MLS match against LAFC, which was postponed due to catastrophic flooding in the Central Texas region, was rescheduled to Sunday, October 12th at 5:00pm. All tickets already purchased will still be valid, and refunds due to the schedule change are not possible.

MLS Team Of The Week Selections

Brad Stuver was named to the MLS Team Of The Week following his impressive performance against the New England Revolution. The All-Star goalkeeper made 8 saves and prevented 1.43 expected goals, keeping a clean sheet in the process.

Myrto Uzuni was also named to the MLS Team Of The Week following his goal and assist against the LA Galaxy on Wednesday. The Albanian DP scored a goal from the edge of the area after a well-placed through ball by Diego Rubio, and assisted Owen Wolff’s goal midway through the second half. The goal and assist bring his season total of goal contributions up to 6, with 4 goals and 2 assists in all competitions.

Uzuni Deletes Instagram

Following the 0-0 draw to New England, Uzuni deleted all of his social media accounts. Whether it was due to fan criticism or if it was just a personal choice is unknown, but it shows that the Albanian knows the pressure is on him and he needs to start performing, which he did against the LA Galaxy.

USMNT v Ecuador

On Monday afternoon, it was announced by the US Soccer Federation that Q2 Stadium would host an international friendly between the USMNT and Ecuador on October 10th. The match will kick off at 7:30pm and will be available for streaming on TNT, HBO Max, Peacock, and a few smaller streaming providers.

At the time of publishing, tickets are now available for purchase on SeatGeek, with the cheapest tickets being in the supporters section for around $65.

MLS All-Star Week

Austin FC has the weekend off as Q2 Stadium will be hosting the MLS All-Star Game and many other festivities this week. Make sure to check out the MLS NEXT All-Star Game at Parmer Field, the MLS All-Star Skills Challenge, and the All-Star Game at Q2 Stadium on Wednesday night.

Check out the full All-Star Week schedule here: austinfc.com/all-star