Austin FC is taking its Grow the Legend tagline to heart with the announcement of its first ever Designated Player, Cecilio Domínguez.
While the financials of the deal are undisclosed, the club believes enough in the future star power of 26-year old Cecilio that they’ve awarded him a rare DP spot—one of three available to the club.
Looking at his club history, it’s easy to see why. Domínguez has grinded at big clubs Independiente (Argentina’s Primera División) and Club América (Liga MX) since 2017. Austin FC sporting director Reyna also said Boca Juniors was in the running for Cecilio’s talents.
Yet he’s not exactly a household name, which leaves plenty of room to #GrowTheLegend and fulfill his destiny.
We’re starting to see a pattern with these player signings.
Just like the announcement of fellow Paraguayan Rodney Redes, CEO Anthony Precourt sent up the VERDE smoke signal in a tweet on Sunday.
Today, a press release was sent out followed by a quick conference call with the announcement of Cecilio Domínguez’ signing by Claudio Reyna and head coach Josh Wolff.
Here’s Wolff’s assessment of the Left Winger:
“Cecilio is the type of player we wanted for our first Designated Player signing. He’s a young but experienced, attacking international who joins us from one of the biggest clubs in South America. His dynamic forward play will translate well to MLS,” commented Josh Wolff, Austin FC Head Coach. “He is an attacking player well known to Liga MX fans, with a broad skillset, good movement off the ball and the ability to come inside and create scoring opportunities by himself. He can score with both feet and his head, and he is a true team player. His club experience in Mexico, Paraguay, and Argentina, alongside his national team history with Paraguay, adds a significant threat to our forward line. He’s a player fans will be pleased to see when we start play in 2021.”
Cecilio is looking for a fresh start in MLS, as Wolff basically summed it up on the conference call.
Frustrated with Independiente, and maybe wanting to shake off his struggles there, Domínguez is clearly hoping to put some distance from his past with a move abroad to the ATX.
Officially, Cecilio won’t join Austin FC until January 2021.
In the meantime, we’ll have to make do with this greeting from him, since he’ll temporarily stay in Paraguay through 2020.
Shortly after his signing, Paraguayan side Club Guarani announced Cecilio will be on loan with the team to finish out 2020.
It’s a win-win proposition for both Domínguez and Austin FC.
He gets a chance to play in his home country. The club gets to link up their first-ever signing, Rodney Redes, with Cecilio to build some chemistry on and off the pitch.
For more news and opinion on Cecilio Domínguez, listen to the 8.25.20 episode of the Capital City Soccer Show hosted by Landon Cotham and Jeremiah Bentley.