FC Cincinnati and General Manager Chris Albright released their offseason options and roster decisions on Monday evening. Options exercised included key figures in Obinna Nwobodo and Miles Robinson, but also a surprise with forward Sergio Santos. The club also exercised the contract option on Álvaro Barreal, who is on loan at Brazilian side Cruzeiro.
FCC also announced that they triggered the buy option for Luca Orellano after his successful loan from Vasco da Gama this season.
The club declined contract options on London Aghedo, Joey Akpunonu, Yamil Asad, Isaiah Foster, Kipp Keller, Arquimides “Quimi” Ordoñez and Malik Pinto. The loans of Niko Gioacchini from Italian club Como and Kevin Kelsy from Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk have each expired, with both players having returned to their respective clubs. It has been reported by various sources that FCC attempted to renegotiate a fee for Kelsy with both clubs not agreeing to a new deal.
Cincy is in discussions with Nick Hagglund following the expiration of his contract and Yamil Asad following one season on a league minimum salary. Asad played in 29 matches across all competitions scoring six times. The Argentine left-back should be in line for a large increase in a new deal.
These decisions, along with the inclusion of new DP Kevin Denkey, bring the total roster to 23 before the half-day trade window on Monday followed by the MLS Expansion Draft on Wednesday. New club San Diego FC may select up to five players from the eligible player list with existing clubs “protecting”12 players from their Senior and Supplemental rosters. Teams have negotiated with the new expansion club prior to a draft to trade “protected” players for increased GAM.
Who does FCC move from here?
With the triggered options of Miles Robinson and Álvaro Barreal, GM Chris Albright exercised some control of potential sale assets. Alvaro Barreal has a buy option included in his loan agreement with Cruzeiro, but there have been some rumblings that the club could pass on the fee. The move could also be a formality with the club having to “protect” Barreal in next week’s expansion draft.
Robinson is a unique deal as FCC has control over four starting-caliber high-contract centerbacks (Teenage Hadebe, Chidozie Awaziem, Matt Miazga and Robinson). Albright will likely have to move one of these players, with Miles being the likely option. FCC can sell Robinson to a non-MLS club and apply some of his fee toward the new GAM conversion mechanism. The club could also try and strike a deal within the league for a large sum of GAM or cash fee. New club San Diego FC could look at Robinson as a great cornerstone piece and could afford a trade deal with their increased GAM allotment in their inaugural season.
The reported $3 million deal for Luca Orellano seems like a no-brainer for Cincinnati following his rockstar 2024 season. But let’s think outside of the box for a second. Per our Roster Tracker (estimated salary budget with some educated guessing), FCC is already VERY TIGHT on budget for 2025. This includes a max allotment of GAM conversion and a 3 DP model. *Currently FCC has no U22 designation players under contract so we proceeded with this model.
Many things will change in the next few weeks, but FCC could possibly turn around Orellano in a sale and maximize their upcoming GAM allotment should a move of Barreal fall through. This could also be handy for a potential need to get more allocation money to cover for a key central midfield presence. While I hope Orellano is in Orange & Blue in 2025, he can be used as a way to maximize the club’s salary options in 2025.
Former DP Obinna Nwobodo could also be dealt within the league or abroad. His acquisition fee now falls off his budget figure and this may drop him from a DP designation to a GAM spot. While it is generally viewed that this was a “down” year for the Nigerian, he is still viewed as one of the best defensive midfielders in the league. There could absolutely be a market for Nwobodo within or outside the league and he could be another pathway to maximize the club’s 2025 GAM. Of course, having his presence in the midfield would be preferred in the eyes of the author.
With the new MLS roster-building rules, Albright could elect to keep a large portion of this 23-man roster intact. FCC could elect for the new 2 DP/4 U22 with a $2 million GAM bonus and apply that towards the Orellano purchase. This would buy down his roster budget hit and coupled with some of the new GAM conversion could really lower his overall CAP hit from a near DP designation. Going with this method could allow FCC to buy several near-DP type players, reduce their budget hits over the life of their contract, and then proceed with a 3 DP build in 2026.
The elephant in the room
Three weeks ago, I would have said there was no chance that Álvaro Barreal would return to Cincinnati in 2025. Now, I am not so sure. With Luciano Acosta expressing his desire to leave the club this offseason, FCC could employ a front three of Barreal, Denkey and Orellano. The necessary piece of that equation would be the need to get some sort of fee to apply as a GAM conversion for Acosta.
The most shocking option selection of the announcement was forward Sergio Santos. The Brazilian would be a good fit in a pressing system as the first man off the bench or could be utilized in one of the “winger” roles in a pinch. He has shown to be comfortable playing in the wide spaces and could also deputize for Denkey. He appeared to be superfluous in the existing FCC system with Yuya Kubo supplanting him in the starting XI, but it makes sense should FCC look to change formations with a possibly departing Acosta.
Regardless of the announcement on Monday or a potential departure of Acosta, Albright needed to create some flexibility for the 2025 roster budget. While the budget looks very tight today, instead of cutting pieces and paying additional funds for replacements, Albright locked up assets to possibly generate even greater flexibility for 2025. It lends to his astute handling of the roster budget over the past several seasons and the understanding of how to best navigate the new roster rules in MLS.
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