FC Dallas made their moves and are still in talks with Matt Hedges.
After a few weeks of waiting, the announcement we’ve all been waiting for is finally here. FC Dallas has made their end-of-season roster moves today.
FC Dallas has exercised contract options on three players, while 20 players remain under contract for the 2023 season, the club announced today. Dallas exercised contract options for Edwin Cerrillo, Marco Farfan and Tsiki Ntsabeleng.
Players already under contract for the 2023 season include Paul Arriola, Antonio Carrera, Justin Che, Jesús Ferreira, Franco Jara, Bernard Kamungo, Sebastian Lletget, José Martínez, Jimmy Maurer, Jáder Obrian, Maarten Paes, Isaiah Parker, Paxton Pomykal, Facundo Quignon, Dante Sealy, Brandon Servania, Collin Smith, Nkosi Tafari, Ema Twumasi and Alan Velasco.
FC Dallas Homegrowns Justin Che and Dante Sealy are currently on loan until June 2023 with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and PSV Eindhoven, respectively.
On the other end of things, FC Dallas has declined contract options for defenders Lucas Bartlett, Matt Hedges, Eddie Munjoma, Nanu and Joshué Quiñónez, midfielders Nicky Hernandez and Thomas Roberts, and forwards Kalil ElMedkhar and Beni Redžić.
The club is currently negotiating with defender Matt Hedges about a new contract with FC Dallas.
Quick Notes:
Core still intact – With 20 players under contract, this group’s core does feel strong going into next season. Ten roster slots to fill does seem daunting, but given the free agency, upcoming drafts, transfers and roster mechanisms, it should all fill up quickly before next year. We’ll dive into our picks for free agents and Re-Entry targets later this week on this site.
Open International roster slots – The moves today also open up two international roster slots now that the loans for Nanu and Quinonez have ended. Add in that open international roster slot that the club picked up from Nashville last week, which gives the front office some wiggle room this winter after the World Cup.
About Hedges – Seeing that the club is looking to continue talks with Hedges is a good sign of things, even though going into last week, our sources said that the two sides were pretty far off in their discussions. Hedges’s option was likely going to be over $1 million in 2023, something the club couldn’t figure out how to work into the salary cap for next year.
For now, though, Hedges is a free agent. This is just so weird to think about and discuss since he has been such a staple with the team.
Four HGPs gone – I don’t think it was any surprise to see guys like Munjoma, Roberts and ElMedkhar see their time with the club come to an end. Those three never really found footing under head coach Nico Estevez.
The one surprise, though, was seeing Redzic on the list. He did seem to figure out how to earn playing time down the stretch this year and appeared to be a Nico-guy too.
To be perfectly honest about these four, I see all of them doing well for a USL-C team next year.
More HGPs coming – At the club’s end-of-season media call, Andres Zanotta stated that the club was close to signing at least two new HGPs. According to our sources, one that has emerged is defender Nolan Norris, as one of the two likely signings this winter. Norris has shown well for the US Youth national teams and for North Texas SC this past season. We’re still waiting to see who the other potential HGP will be this winter. Once we have a name, we’ll share it.
2023 FC Dallas roster (as of Nov. 14, 2022)
Goalkeepers (3): Antonio Carrera, Jimmy Maurer, Maarten Paes
Defenders (6): Marco Farfan, José Martínez, Isaiah Parker, Collin Smith, Nkosi Tafari, Ema Twumasi
Midfielders (6): Edwin Cerrillo, Sebastian Lletget, Tsiki Ntsabeleng, Paxton Pomykal, Facundo Quignon, Brandon Servania
Forwards (6): Paul Arriola, Jesús Ferreira, Franco Jara, Bernard Kamungo, Jáder Obrian, Alan Velasco
On loan (2): Justin Che, Dante Sealy