Important Transfer News, an FCito Contract Termination, and a Home Matchup Against LAFC: Austin FC Weekly Recap
Austin FC Signs Nicky Beloko
Early Monday afternoon, Austin FC announced the signing of midfielder Nicky Beloko, which surprised nobody as he had been strongly linked with the club for over a month. The Verde and Black signed Beloko on a free transfer from Swiss club FC Luzern, with his contract running until 2028. Beloko is a 25-year-old center-midfielder with both defensive and attacking attributes. He has Swiss and Cameroonian nationality and has featured many times for various levels of the Swiss youth national teams.
This transfer is pretty interesting, considering midfielder is not a position of need, which signals a likely outbound move for one of the current midfielders on the squad, likely Owen Wolff or Dani Pereira. Both are equally valuable to the club, but with Owen Wolff still on a supplemental deal and hitting the salary cap at $0 until 2027, the sale of Dani Pereira makes much more sense for the club financially. Pereira’s contract goes until 2026 if the club picks up the 1-year option, which means that a decent fee could be commanded for the Venezuelan, freeing up a decent amount of cap space and a senior roster spot.
Beloko has begun training with the team, but will only be able to make his debut as early as the game against DC United on July 26th after the window opens on the 24th. He will wear the number 27, formerly worn by McKinzie Gaines and Brandan Craig.
Diego Palacios Rumor
On Wednesday afternoon, news broke that Austin FC is in talks to sign former LAFC left-back Diego Palacios on loan from Corinthians in Brazil. The 25 Ecuadorian was one of the league's best while at LAFC, but since joining Corinthians, he has only made 4 appearances thanks to a recurring knee injury. The rumored terms include Austin not paying a loan fee and only covering his salary for the duration of the loan, which is likely to last until the end of the season. It is unclear if there would be a purchase option for the loan.
Again, this is another transfer that would make little sense for our current roster situation seeing as we have just 3 centre-backs and no attacking midfielders, while having plenty of depth at left-back. Again, this could be a case of someone being sold at this position, but since the incoming player would only be coming in on a loan it makes even less sense. Roster size is a big deal in MLS and there is no room for excess players, and before anything else, this squad needs a playmaker and some better depth at center-back before we go signing players in already deep positions.
Austin FC II News
Austin FC II announced Monday that the club and Nico Van Rijn had agreed to a contract termination. After under a year at the club, the Spaniard has left, seeking pastures new. This is the 3rd contract termination this season for FCito, and it isn’t sending a good message to current second-team players or academy players. Even after Austin FC II won MLS Next Pro, not a single player made the jump to the first team, with many leaving after their contract expired or being sold to USL clubs for pocket change.
In other FCito news, the club announced the signing of free agent midfielder Marcel Ruszel, formerly of Stal Stalowa Wola in the Polish second division. The 21-year-old Polish-American signs a contract through 2027 with an option for 2028 and will first be eligible to make his debut for the second team on July 25th against in-state rivals Houston Dynamo. As someone who avidly watches the Polish second division — as odd as that sounds, it is not a joke — I can say that Stal Stalowa Wola is a pretty poor team. They were just relegated after winning just 4 matches all season, finishing dead last, and losing by 5 goal margins 4 different times. Ruszel never really had a chance to break into the team, as he joined after some of the season had lapsed and was only able to make 12 appearances over the singular season he spent with the club. Before joining Stal, Ruszel spent 2 seasons in Torino’s youth system, making 65 appearances for the U19 and U20 sides. Before his stint in Italy, he made 8 appearances in MLS Next Pro for FC Cincy 2, grabbing a goal and an assist. This is definitely a good signing for the second team, and it will be interesting to see if he can make the jump to the first team at any point.
Previewing Austin FC v LAFC
Austin FC begins a stretch of 4 games in 12 games, starting with LAFC at home, followed by San Jose away just 3 days later. Coming off a very disappointing 2-0 loss away to Seattle, Austin FC fans will be demanding a win against an LAFC team fresh off 3 losses in their last 4 games. With a win, the Verde and Black could catapult themselves into 6th, but a loss could drop them out of the play-in spots. This game is arguably one of the less important ones this season, as Austin FC travels to southern California in just a few days to face San Jose Earthquakes in the quarterfinals of the US Open Cup. It should not be surprising if coach Nico rolls out a heavily rotated lineup against LAFC to save energy for one of the biggest matches in recent club history.
LAFC recently played in the Club World Cup, traveling to Atlanta, Nashville, and Orlando before returning to LA and now to Austin, so it is safe to say that they will be exhausted from the insane amount of travel. They have just one win in their last 7 games, including draws to both last-place sides in each conference, but did put up a fight against Brazilian giants Flamengo in their final Club World Cup match. Despite sitting 7th in the Western Conference, the Black and Gold have 3 games in hand compared to most other Western Conference sides, and with just a few good results, could find themselves solidly in the top 4.
This matchup will be the 12th in the all-time series, with Austin FC winning just 3, drawing 2, and losing a whopping 7 games. LAFC star player Denis Bouanga is as in-form as ever, having scored 9 goals while assisting 4 more in just 19 games in 2025. This game, as most in the series, will be high energy and very passionate on both sides, with many Austin fans considering this game a rivalry or something of the sort.
Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. CT, and the match can be streamed on Apple TV with MLS Season Pass.