Austin FC Dumps Diego Fagundez in Stunning Trade

Diego Fagúndez in 2022 (photo by John Anderson)

Three days after its latest embarrassing, demoralizing loss and elimination from the 2023 Leagues Cup, Austin FC decided to cheer everybody up … by trading away the most beloved player on the roster.

In what reeks of a desperate, overreactionary, and frankly tone-deaf move, the club sent fan favorite attacker Diego Fagúndez packing to southern California in exchange for a lesser player in Memo Rodríguez and between $300,000 and $900,000 in allocation money from the LA Galaxy (depending on add-ons).

The trade marks a sudden and unceremonious end to Fagúndez’s two-and-a-half-year stint with Austin FC in which he became the face of soccer in Central Texas. Even while Sebastián Driussi was emerging as the club’s star player and MVP candidate, Fagúndez routinely drew the loudest ovations at Q2 Stadium and maintained a level of popularity with the fan base that none of his teammates could hope to match, and it was easy to see why.

An ATXFC player since day one and the scorer of the club’s first-ever goal, Fagúndez wrapped his arms around Austin from the moment he arrived in 2021. He, along with his family, embedded within the community seamlessly, regularly showing up to local pickup games and charity foot-golf tournaments on his own time. In the locker room, Fagúndez embraced his role as the heart and soul of the club, and frequently spoke up on behalf of his less-inclined teammates to lend a thoughtful quote to the media after big wins and tough losses.

THIS. RIGHT. HERE.

History for our Club. History for the ATX. pic.twitter.com/FepuI4pgVx

— Austin FC (@AustinFC) April 25, 2021

As much as his affable personality thrived in Austin, so did his play on the field. Already a 10-year MLS veteran when he arrived from New England at age 26, Fagúndez experienced a career rejuvenation in the Verde and Black, emerging as one of the club’s most consistently dangerous attackers and notching 15 goals and 22 assists in 86 games across three seasons. Just this past February, the club inked Fagúndez to a contract extension through 2025, including a steep pay raise that head coach Josh Wolff said was done “out of good will” rather than necessity, as a sign of appreciation for the Uruguayan’s contributions to the club.

Happier times: Diego Fagúndez celebrating Austin FC's first-ever home victory with the fans (photo by Jana Birchum)

And yet, here we are. Offloading Fagúndez becomes the first big decision for the club under the leadership of new Sporting Director Rodolfo Borrell, whose quote in the club’s press release is almost – almost – too press release-y to print:

“The club is sincerely grateful to Diego for his contributions to growing Austin FC on and off the field in the organization’s first two-and-a-half seasons,” said Borrell. “He will forever be an important part of the team’s history and we wish him all the best in the future.”

Borrell, with his debonair Catalan accent, already sounds like a Bond villain, and this move surely won’t earn him many fans among the Austin FC supporter base. But Borrell’s perspective can be understood, if not accepted. He’s new to town, hasn’t witnessed with his own eyes what Fagúndez means to the club, and has ideas for Austin FC’s future that require financial flexibility to bring them to fruition.

Instead, it’s Wolff who draws the optical short straw in the situation. It only took a couple of lackluster games early in the season for him to seemingly turn on Fagúndez, publicly accusing the winger of not living up to his new contract even though Wolff himself had a large role in offering it. And now it’s Wolff who will have to deal with the consequences of Fagúndez’s absence both on the pitch and in the locker room.

He’ll be very difficult to replace in both.

For more Austin FC news and analysis, visit The Austin Chronicle's Austin FC hub. Follow “The Verde Report” columnist Eric Goodman on Twitter: @goodman.