Lucho Mania!!!
As a Washington, D.C. Metro Area native and OG D.C. United supporter dating back to the start of the league in 1996, I've kept a keen eye on the Black and Red throughout the years. More recently as a way to stay connected with my 95-year old Dad, who still lives in Northern Virginia and reads Steven Goff's soccer coverage in the Washington Post religiously. So when Pablo Maurer of the Athletic broke the news last week that FC Cincinnati were pursuing Luciano "Lucho" Acosta, the former Boca Juniors player, to fill their vacant "10" role, I was thrilled.
Over the past few years, even when Wayne Rooney was in the Nation's Capital, Lucho was one of my favorite DCU players (in addition to USMNT Winger Paul Arriola). Lucho spent 4 years wearing the DCU kit, logging in 137 matches primarily as the No. 10 central attacking midfielder. He also brings versatility and can shift into a more attacking role in a winger or forward position if needed. Lucho tallied 25 goals and 29 assists across 10,158 minutes for DCU; that's a 0.48 G+A/90 productivity rate (by the way, Pity had a 0.53 rate at River Plate).
If you want to get a hint of what Lucho brings as a No. 10, simply watch this highlight reel of his time in MLS. Tell me if you don't see some creativity and moxie in Lucho?
Some are worried about his attitude and the circumstances in which he departed D.C. 13 months ago. Let me paint a picture for you, a portrait of a true story. Lucho is sitting in a Parisian hotel room in late January 2019 waiting to get the confirmation that he was being transferred to Ligue 1 stalwarts Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) for a hefty deal (fee and wages). Inexplicably to the player, the call never materialized and the deal fell apart during the final negotiations between PSG and DCU. Understandably, that was a fatal blow for Lucho's time in D.C. and he never recovered his form in 2019. He chose to exit the club that offseason on a free transfer to Liga MX side Atlas Guadalajara in January 2020.
Lucho's time in Atlas hasn't live up to expectations for either the club or player and the Argentine talisman is interested in a move back to MLS. Enter FCCincy! The issue though, as Acosta does not qualify for MLS Free Agency yet (he's 1 season short), and D.C. had made a bona fide offer to retain him last year, DCU still hold his MLS rights.
Can FCC afford Lucho?
With a trade deal for Acosta's rights reported to be near complete by Pablo and other sources, the question on many FCC supporters minds is whether the club can afford to bring in Lucho and still get other deals done too.
The short answer is YES! My question for YAL, can the club not afford to bring him in?
Here's how the 26-year old Lucho can fit FCC's 2021 Roster Budget assuming the following guardrails:
FCC sends DCU no more than $500k of GAM spread over two seasons ($250k in 2021 & $250k in 2022) for his rights. Don't discount a player going DCU's way either for Acosta's rights. which could be GAM neutral or a net add for FCC in the GAM bucket.
Lucho joins FCCincy on a free transfer (as being reported from Guadalajara) and enters into a TAM level contract around $1.25M per year. Note he made $700k in 2019 with DCU but is reportedly earning $2M for Atlas today. In this scenario, Atlas will need to share in his current salary to meet FCC's 2021 salary needs. This is common and doable between teams.
This allows the Orange & Blue to slot him in the 6th spot in the roster budget table below, while still preserving the ability to bring in a DP winger on a mid-7 to low-8 figure deal this window, as well as a U22 CB.
Both Cruz and Kubo have been bought down to non-DP status in this scenario.
To make roster room for the U22 CB ($200k budget salary and no *AM spend necessary, thanks to the new U22 player initiative) a current rostered player will need to be moved. Many options exist to do this, such as: moving/trading a current rostered player; ending Franko's loan; or loaning out Ben Lundt once again in 2021.
The beauty of Acosta on this roster is that he already carries permanent residence status via his green card and will not further tax FCC's already compressed International slots.
For those who like to see the inner workings, here is an updated roster budget illustrating the key parameters above. It's tight but achievable.
This certainly has been a one heck of a Silly Season for FC Cincinnati. With the recent monumental signing of Brasilian Forward Brenner along with the possible addition of a MLS seasoned No. 10 like Lucho Acosta, the tide may finally be turning. That's not all the moves expected either as Gerard Nijkamp has stated his plans are to add a high valued winger (see spot 2 above) and a center back during this Primary Transfer Window.
Stay tuned to YAL as the 2021 roster continues to evolve. Less than 2 weeks away to the preseason reporting date of March 1st. [STB}
