With the summer transfer window less than a month away, FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman and assistant coach John Ellinger acknowledged that FCD will be active once the window opens.
The opportunity to sign players opens July 15 and Hyndman admitted FC Dallas’ interest in signing new additions for the second half of the MLS season.
“We are going to be active,” Hyndman told MLSsoccer.com over the phone Wednesday. “We feel like the team is doing very well but we never expected the injury to David [Ferreira] so that has sidetracked us. Then we feel like we’ve got other competitions like CONCACAF Champions League games and US Open Cup games that we need more players here.”
While Ferreira’s presence and playmaking abilities are sorely missed by the second-place team in the Western Conference, FC Dallas have only lost once since he broke his ankle against the Vancouver Whitecaps in late April.
To aggravate FC Dallas’ attacking front a little more, on Tuesday, 19-year-old forward Fabián Castillo left for South America to prepare for the Under-20s World Cup with Colombia, leaving FCD thin at the striker position.
Hyndman said Castillo could be gone for two months and that the team has a number of needs heading into July.
“I think we could use a forward,” stated Hyndman. “We could use a creative, attacking midfielder like David. I think we could another solid defender that is versatile to play in different positions whether it’s a fullback or center back. What we are doing is looking at all of those positions. Hopefully we can find a player that will help compliment this team.”
With the CONCACAF Gold Cup running through Saturday, Ellinger and Hyndman admitted their interest in several talents participating in the regional tournament.
“I’ve always liked [Panamanian forwards] Blas Pérez and Luis Tejada,” said Ellinger. “I liked [Tejada] because he was a good-in-the-box kind of guy. He will stay in the box, create things and score goals. Pérez, on the other hand … kind of does it all, like in the air, he is a bigger version of [Álvaro] Saborío from Salt Lake. They are both interesting.”
Over the past three weeks FC Dallas have had members of their coaching staff traveling and watching Gold Cup matches looking for players that fit into FCD’s system.
“I think all the coaches and technical directors have been watching the Gold Cup very closely,” said Hyndman. “Looking at players, I think the teams that caught our attention as far as having multiple players there that fit our needs would be Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Jamaica and Panama.
“Those are the teams that we have looked at and said, ‘That would be a good player for the league and more importantly, they would be a good player for FC Dallas.’”
