FC Dallas Solved a Big Problem

Yesterday, FC Dallas traded Brandon Servania to Toronto FC for Jesus Jimenez and an international spot. Whoa.

We knew that FC Dallas had at least one major problem on their roster going into the 2023 season - someone to back up Jesus Ferreira at striker.

On President’s Day, they seemed to solve that problem, by sending homegrown midfielder Brandon Servania to Toronto FC for Jesus Jimenez.

You can’t have enough Jesus on this roster evidently.

Of course, time will tell on a trade like this, but in the short term, it’s a big help for FC Dallas who needed someone with experience to push Ferreira, or if he slumps, to take over in that starting role. It gives Nico and staff a possibility to go with two up top, which they were willing to do at times last season, and if Jimenez takes off and Jesus gets hot and heads to Europe, maybe FCD ends up with a new no. 1 in house.

What is clear is that with Tarik Scott going down with a season ending injury and Jose Mulato being the next guy up, Dallas is looking thin up top. Being one injury away from having to turn to a young guy who will need time to adjust at this level is not a great position with the slate of games on the way.

And I’ll point out the elephant in the room - Jesus hasn’t looked silky smoothly in a bit. I trust he will get back to his goal scoring form eventually, but you always want a plan b.

During our Afterburn Soccer Show last night, Jose Carmona pointed out that Jimenez didn’t necessarily have the greatest stats as a striker, scoring the majority of his goals in the first half of the season. And he scored more goals when the team focused play around him rather than turn to their wingers. We’ll see how that translates to Dallas, but even in that small sample size, Jimenez banged in nine goals, which is more than Franco Jara did in a season.

The other sneaky piece is that Jimenez is a Spaniard, so Nico may be able to make him feel comfortable and work out a way to get the most out of him.

We say goodbye to Brandon Servania, an appreciated homegrown who certainly left his mark and at times flashed super potential. Brandon probably needs a change of venue to push himself and unlock that next gear in his career, but it is tough to see him go. In the end, Dallas traded a guy who wasn’t going to get as many minutes as he deserved and picked up a guy who can help the team immediately.

Win/win.

What do you think about the trade?