'We believe it was the best decision': Rodolfo Borrell addresses Austin FC's season-defining Diego Fagundez trade

For those who have been following the Galaxy saga, with Will Kuntz supplanting the recently-ousted Chris Klein as that club's primary roster architect, their interest in Fagundez shouldn’t be surprising. The Galaxy was hurting for winger depth after dealing both Kevin Cabral and Samuel Grandsir in the offseason, and with LAFC, Kuntz was instrumental in engineering difference-making interleague trades for Kellyn Acosta and Ilie Sanchez. 

This summer, Kuntz is at it again, bringing in Fagundez, former FC Dallas and Colorado Rapids winger Michael Barrios and FC Dallas midfielder Edwin Cerrillo. With the Galaxy under a transfer ban during this just-closed window, trading was one of the few options available to get Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney additional players for their upcoming, perhaps quioxtic quest to the make the 2023 playoffs. 

Yes, there was a phone call

Media members were also curious about rumors that Fagundez got the news via phone call rather than in-person. Borrell took that question head on, noting that less than a half hour after the deal was complete, an unidentified person leaked the trade news to a media member — even before Fagundez himself knew. 

“Rather than have the player find out on social media, we made the decision to call him directly,” Borrell said pointedly. 

He then turned it on the media member asking the question, saying, "In that situation, what would you do? Better than have him learn about it on Twitter, or better to call him on the phone? Tell him before it hits Twitter and he sees it there first." 

In triaging the calls the club had to make to deal with the leak, they determined that Wolff — having an established relationship with him spanning three seasons — should be the one to make the call. 

'We are a very ambitious club'

Though the Fagundez trade was understandably a focal point of the press conference, Borrell spoke more generally about improving the team, starting with what he referred to several times as “scouting and recruitment” as he looks ahead to what could be a rebuilding process over the offseason. 

“As I’ve said, I just got here,” he emphasized. “We’ve got to find a way to restructure this department of scouting and recruitment. From my experience, when you try to rush things, you commit a double error, and we don’t want that. So, from here to the end of the season, the team is the team. As for what is to come, we are going to be working very hard in advance of the next window because that is what we need to be doing.” 

Borrell also observed, keying off a favorite buzzword of Austin FC CEO Anthony Precourt, “We are a very ambitious club. And we really want to deliver the best team possible and as soon as possible. But that's the reality right now, as I mentioned … there is no salary cap flexibility.” 

Also, perhaps in a coy reference to the players he was accustomed to bringing in at Manchester City, he noted that the situation in MLS is markedly different than in Europe. 

“We have also a very specific way of playing,” he said, appearing to again commit to the possession-oriented play that Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff has championed, “We need a very specific way, the type of player.” 

Noting that he arrived a little more than three weeks ago and a lot of his days have been consumed with meetings, he addressed the change that’s come in the form of the Fagundez trade and the change that may be coming. 

“There's going to be changes in that [there needs] to be changes,” he emphasized. “It's not changes just for the sake of it.” 

What's the goal for this season? 

But that also doesn’t mean that, in Borrell’s view, Austin FC’s going to punt on the season. 

“We should compete to get into the playoff spot position,” he remarked, cognizant of Austin’s current 5th in the West status, just four points behind a Sounders team that was knocked out of the group stages and appears at a bit of a crossroads themselves. 

“And the goal is getting into the playoff position as high as possible, obviously. And there's also this for the following season. But also, for this season it doesn't mean changing.” 

He did also point out, over the course of the press conference, that the club "overacheived" in 2022. 

He added that while the Fagundez deal timing might not have been ideal given Austin’s playoff aspirations, “It was the moment to do that because I think the Galaxy came and they were ready to go with his salary, which is actually one of the highest in the team. And this generates more flexibility in our salary cap moving forward. And this will provide more availability and more possibilities to bring more players.” 

Indeed, the move makes Fagundez the 5th-highest paid player on a team that has Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez and Douglas Costa on it, putting him in line with where he was in the Verde salary pecking order. 

Arguably, the seeds of the trade might have been planted less than six months ago, when Fagundez and Austin FC arrived at a contract extension that bumped him up from a more budget-conscious $450,000 annual salary to a more profligate $1 million. 

Being careful not to mention other clubs specifically, Borrell touched on the delicate balance of paying players what they're worth and operating within a salary cap league like MLS. "When you get success, everyone is coming knocking at the door. You improve the salaries, and when you improve the salaries ... you don't have flexibility to change the thing. It's as simple as that."