Reporting: Garrett Melcer

“He's an artist" Inside FC Dallas' Trade for Lucho Acosta

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What does Lucho Acosta bring to FC Dallas?

“Magic.”

That’s the assessment of FCD Chief Soccer Officer André Zanotta, fresh off completing one of the biggest signings in the club’s 30-year history.

Acosta – the 2023 MLS MVP, a four-time MLS Best XI selection and an elite playmaker in every sense – joins Dallas from FC Cincinnati in a league-record cash trade worth $5 million plus incentives.

The only comparable trade in FCD’s past was back in 2005 when the club acquired 2002 MVP Carlos Ruiz from the LA Galaxy. In return, the Galaxy landed the #1 spot in the now-defunct allocation order, giving them first dibs to sign American star Landon Donovan (whom the MVP trophy is now named) on his return stateside.

Twenty years later, FC Dallas is once again adding one of MLS's proven premier talents at the peak of his powers. Since returning to MLS in 2021, Acosta has provided 48 goals and 62 assists in 125 regular season games and been named an All-Star in each of the last three seasons. And the 30-year-old Argentine’s attacking contributions go even further. Below are his offensive metrics from the last two campaigns compared to other attacking midfielders and wingers in MLS (hint: green is good).

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So, how did Dallas sign FC Cincinnati’s wantaway star? We spoke to the man who made the deal happen, André Zanotta, to get the full story.

“I have been speaking with Chris Albright, the GM in Cincinnati, since last year. Just, ‘hey, if Lucho is available, let me know. I want to get Lucho. Hey, let's make a trade.’

“We knew what Lucho represented to Cincinnati, being there all those years, being the MVP. But a player of his caliber, we will always be interested in having this type of player here. But it's never easy.

“(Earlier this year) Cincinnati allowed me to speak with his agent. I kept in contact with his agent to see, now that the league allows us to make the trade for cash, it's going to be a big investment, we need to make sure the player also wants to be here for sure. And every time I spoke with the agent, he said yes, Lucho would be happy to go to Dallas. It's a place he would like to get to know and he feels it would be good for his family. And then in the last few days, we decided to push hard.”

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André Zanotta, FC Dallas' Chief Soccer Officer/Sporting Director

After negotiating with Cincinnati on the fee to make the deal move forward, Zanotta, his team, and head coach Eric Quill spoke with Acosta himself via Zoom on Superbowl Sunday.

“Sunday was great. Lucho showed his desire to be here. He liked the call. We explained things and how we see him fitting into the team. We heard his concerns and in the end, we felt great, and his agent said, ‘yeah, he's ready.’ Then we just went to back Cincinnati to finalize the details.”

Zanotta, Quill and co. were keen to learn Acosta’s wants and needs from a new team considering the player publicly cast doubt over his future in MLS following the end of Cincinnati’s 2024 season.

“There are two important things for Lucho,” Zanotta explained. “First that he wants to win. He's a winner. All the information that we got from people that worked with him is that he's very competitive, and he wants to be in a place that he sees lifting trophies. We had to show him our ambition to be champions. We want to make history here in the club. This club has never won an MLS Cup, and we are all here to make that happen.

“We explained to him ‘We want to win, we want to compete, and we want to have a strong team, and you're going to be that key piece that we that we need.’

“And the second thing is his family. They're all from Argentina, so coming to Texas, they feel it would be a good environment for them. And Lucho just wants to make sure that we could help take care of the family.”

With Cincinnati’s demands met and Acosta’s desires understood, the club can begin modifying the team using the diminutive playmaker as its new centerpiece. Acosta will likely play as the attacking mid in Quill's preferred 4-2-3-1 formation, pulling the strings behind fellow Designated Player Petar Musa. The prospect of a Musa-Acosta one-two punch should have every Dallas fan salivating.

Zanotta: “He's an artist. Just the things he does with the ball are incredible. It's rare to find, it's not easy to sign a player with the quality he brings. He's going to raise the expected goals for our team significantly and he brings so many threats on the field, we're going to be so much stronger in the attack with him. We’re going to increase, a lot, our chances of scoring goals and creating opportunities. So that's the magic.”