Why FC Dallas signed 19-year-old Brazilian Kaick da Silva Ferreira

FC Dallas has added midfield reinforcement with the signing of Kaick da Silva Ferreira (who goes simply by "Kaick" and is pronounced Kah-EE-kay) from Brazilian club Grêmio. At 19 years old, Kaick will occupy a U22 slot meaning his salary budget charge with only count as $150,000 towards FCD’s salary cap.

While Dallas is somewhat flush with two-way midfielders (Sebastian Lletget, Tsiki Nstabeleng, Ramiro, Patrickson Delgado and soon Paxton Pomykal), it lacks a true defensive midfield presence. That’s what Kaick promises to be. And although the Brazilian has little first team experience (he only made one appearance for Grêmio’s senior side), the club’s hierarchy see him as a high-potential player who can make an impact in MLS this season.

“Kaick brings athletic ability, energy, ground coverage,” said FC Dallas’ Director of Scouting Leo Baldo on the FC Dallas Agenda Podcast. “The willingness to defend is in his nature, and you don't teach this. You have it, or you don't have it. For him it's natural. And this is one of the reasons that when we saw him we thought, ‘this is the type of player we are looking for.’ And it's not just the defensive part because as soon as the team has the ball, Kaick is a player that can connect, can make some long balls, and he can dribble the ball forward…He’s born in 2005 so we need to help the kid but he has a bright future and we are going in a good direction with him.”

Kaick’s lack of first-team experience rightly raised eyebrows when a $4 million fee was reported for the signing. If accurate, that would make him FC Dallas’ fourth-most expensive player behind only Petar Musa, Alan Velasco and Lucho Acosta – all Designated Players with much longer track records of success behind them. Why does FC Dallas believe a player with mainly youth-team experience warrants such an outlay?

Baldo explains: “This is something really interesting that happens in Brazil. Sometimes you have really quality players that don't have the opportunity to play with the (senior) professionals because the first teams of Brazil, especially the big ones like Grêmio, are packed with good players. Grêmio, specifically, have four defensive midfielders with experience, with big salaries, and Kaick was trying to break the ceiling and go to the first team. But considering the situation there, he was not able to.

“Grêmio is one of the top academies in Brazil. One example that I always give, I remember scouting a competition 2018, and Grêmio sold a player for $10 million that never stepped on the field for first team. So this happens in Brazil. It's not normal, but we know the quality that is there and his quality is what made us bring Kaick here.”

Currently, the club is working to obtain a work visa for Kaick at which point he’ll join FCD first team training.

“Kaick’s transfer was an important investment from the club’s ownership,” Baldo said. “We made the investment because we believe a lot in the player…He'll have to adjust but we truly believe that he can integrate fast.”