Austin FC Have Stocked Up On International Talent This Summer Transfer Window
Yesterday, I dropped a summer transfer article surrounding St. Louis City and their overhaul. Today, let’s head down south and take a look at another club adding a ton of talent, Austin FC. Heading into the Leagues Cup break Austin FC are sitting in 10th in the Western Conference, 2 points behind a play-in game spot and 6 points behind a secure playoff spot. This is a team that has shown flashes of strong soccer in 2024, but also some outright bad performances as well. There is part of my brain that has some faith in Austin FC that they could be a playoff team in 2024. But let’s check out what they’ve done this summer… so far.
After buying out the contract of DP winger Emiliano Rigoni, Austin quickly went out and replaced him with another DP attacker. Austin FC signed 25 year old winger Osman Bukari from Red Star Belgrade in Serbia. Bukari has dominated while in Serbia winning two league titles as well as two Serbian cups. These titles added to his trophy cabinet as he also has a Coupe de France with FC Nantes and a Slovak Super Liga Team of the Season honor during his time with AS Trencin. Bukari had 205 career games under his belt before his arrival to Austin FC in which he had 47 career goals and 55 career assists. The new star attacker is also a full Ghanaian international, recording 5 goal contributions in 17 caps for his home nation. Josh Wolff is hoping that Bukari and new MLS Next Pro call up, Jimmy Farkarlun, can be some added attacking help to Sebastian Driussi, Jader Obrian, and company. This summer Austin also officially opened up a U22 Initiative spot on their roster by buying out the contract of striker Moussa Djitte who has been away from the club on loan the last two seasons.
Austin not only tackled their offensive needs during this window, they decided to bolster their backline with two international signings. First, Austin FC signed 29 year old right-back Mikkel Desler as a free agent. Desler last played over in France with Toulouse where he had an impressive run that saw him win a Ligue 2 title, win the Coupe de France, and be named to a Ligue 2 Team of the Season. Before coming to Austin, Desler racked up over 300 games played between Toulouse, Odense Boldklub, and FK Haugesund. In those games the Danish defender totaled 6 goals and 33 assists. Austin also added to their central defense with the signing of Ukrainian international centerback Oleksandr Svatok. The 29 year old Svatok was signed from Ukrainian Premier League side SC Dnipro-1. He most recently represented Ukraine during the 2024 Euros where he started and played 81 minutes in a 0-0 draw against Belgium. Svatok has 233 career games to his name with 5 goals and 5 assists. The veteran defender looked impressive in short spurts against Belgium and hopefully he can bring that level to Austin’s backline.
With new additions to multiple areas of the field for Austin FC, it feels like we are starting to see what this club might look like under the vision of Sporting Director Rodolfo Borrell. They’ve gotten rid of some players occupying high profile spots on their roster and have added what seem to be proven international pieces. I am interested to see where and how well this Austin FC project goes. But from everything I’ve seen so far, this could be a nice long term build in one of the best atmospheres in all of MLS.
