FC Cincinnati General Manager Chris Albright emphasized Sept. 2 that the club needed more depth, better performances and better health to improve its odds of winning trophies in 2025.
Albright addressed local media to give his thoughts on the bevy of moves FC Cincinnati made at the end of the summer transfer window.
During the window, Cincinnati said goodbye to forwards Corey Baird and Sergio Santos, and wingback DeAndre Yedlin. They welcomed back Brenner and also acquired midfielders Samuel Gidi, Dominik Marczuk and Ender Echenique, and forward Ayoub Jabbari.
Brenner, Marczuk and Jabbari all played in their Cincy 2025 debuts Aug. 30 against Philadelphia at TQL Stadium, and Echenique started for the third time in MLS play, his seventh game for the club overall. Gidi, a midfielder from Ghana, is not with the team yet as he works on getting a visa, but he could be in training by the end of the week.
“I think going into the window, given the cap flexibility that we did not have, I probably expected more like maybe two players in,” Albright said. “So to be able to get five in was a surprise for all of us, pleasant surprise. Obviously, some sacrifices when you do that in a salary-cap league, ultimately, the play on the field will determine what success is or isn’t. Sheer numbers of players aren’t a predictor of success, so we’ll see how these players continue to integrate into the team.”
The new players were all acquired to help the offense, which is led by Evander (16 goals) and Kevin Denkey (13 goals). The results didn’t show up right away, as Cincinnati took its second straight loss of the Major League Soccer season Aug. 30, falling 1-0 to Philadelphia. The loss was its third straight at home in TQL Stadium, all by 1-0 scores.
There were moments of brilliance that the team can build on, however.
“I think we were looking to get better with the ball a little bit,” Albright said. “In the case of Ayoub, you specifically get somebody big and mobile. I think you saw that the other night. The physicality, the size. Someone that could supplement what Evander and Kevin do up there. In the case of Sammy Gidi, finding a real ball progressor, someone that could retain the ball in midfield, connect and move us up the field. So every one of those additions there was sort of a key element that they added to the game that we thought could help enhance the group we already had.”
Marczuk, a native of Poland, comes to Cincy from Real Salt Lake on a loan. He started at right wingback against Philly.
“He’s another guy that we have been tracking, even pre-Salt Lake, that kind of scored well for us in our data,” Albright said. “A player that we were familiar with. We ask a lot of our wingbacks with the ball. And so we knew that Dom had qualities, even though he was a young player, qualities with the ball. (He) can get in spots that we feel are dangerous spots. He did so early in the game and unfortunately, we didn’t pull a play off. He’s got a great engine. He’s a willing worker, he’s a good soccer player, and a young player that we think can get better.”
Marczuk fills a role left by Yedlin, who was traded to Salt Lake during negotiations with Cincinnati. Albright said the team matched RSL’s offer, but Yedlin decided to go.
“DeAndre meant a lot to this team, to the locker room, to myself,” Albright said. “There was a personal connection in which we recruited DeAndre with, that ultimately complicated how he left. By promising him that he could, if there was something better for him in his family, that he could entertain that, that’s how we got to where we were. He has a great family and people he has to support, and in the end, he made a decision to what’s best for him and those people, and I can’t argue with that.”
Brenner, who had 18 goals in 2022 for Cincy’s first playoff qualifying team, is back on loan from Udinese in Italy’s premier league. He started up front with Denkey and Evander.
“I think we saw some really elite patterns of play in training last week that, unfortunately, we didn’t see as much in the game,” Albright said. “Players of that quality tend to understand players that have similar qualities, and so I think that their soccer IQ should be what rises above and allows them to connect quickly.”
Cincinnati (16-9-4) ended the night in second place in the Eastern Conference with 52 points and five matches remaining. Cincy is five behind Philadelphia for first, and several other clubs in the East are within striking distance.
The late rough patch is similar to last year, when the Orange and Blue lost three in a row late in the season and ended up in third place in the Eastern Conference. Albright was asked if he is putting more pressure on head coach Pat Noonan and his staff.
“We put the pressure on ourselves,” Albright said. “It’s not good enough right now. I mean, we’ve set expectations high enough that this is not the level we should be performing at, and we know that, and we have a couple weeks now to address it and continue to sort of acclimate these players into the team.”
Albright said the team’s performance left a lot to be desired, especially on offense, but he noted that the team was missing two of its most important players, to injury, Miles Robinson and Obinna Nwobodo. Robinson is expected to play in the Nashville match Sept. 13. The club expects Nwobodo, who has a serious hamstring injury, to be available for the playoffs.
“Those aren’t excuses; that’s just reality,” he said. “Those are foundational pieces in what we do. Last year, it was Matt (Miazga). The year before, it was Matt and Obi. So it’s hard to overcome those things in a cap league where those guys make up an amount of a salary cap or depending on them for ‘X’ reasons. But that being said, we put the pressure on ourselves and we welcome them.”
Albright noted how important it is to have more versatility and depth on offense.
“The margins of our game are about scoring goals,” he said. “I think if we were playing in the NBA, we’d probably win by 12. That’s not how our sport works. Goals are so critical, and I think we have elite personnel in those areas. I feel good about the group of players that we’re adding and that they’re all going to fit in the right way. I think where this league has evolved is you want to be able to look down your bench and see seven, eight, nine starting quality options. And for so long in MLS, they’ve had two, and then the other seven, you’re looking at as sort of perennial reserves.”
Albright said that despite the current performance, the goals of winning the Supporters’ Shield and the MLS Cup are still there.
“We do have a commitment from ownership, that’s among some of the best sort of expenditures in MLS,” he said. “So, yeah, that puts pressure on ourselves, that we welcome. That’s why we do this. We want to win. We think we have a team that’s built to win.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: ‘We have a team that’s built to win.’ FC Cincinnati GM talks new additions to roster
Reporting by James Weber, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
