Revolution Mainstay Diego Fagundez Signs With Austin
Tom Brady, Mookie Betts, Zdeno Chara, and now Diego Fagundez. All four have been long-time public faces of their respective teams but within a year of each other, all have departed. On Tuesday Austin FC announced that they had signed former New England Revolution midfielder Diego Fagundez to a contract.
The 25-year-old has spent the last ten seasons with the Revolution after signing as the club's first Homegrown Player in 2010. Over the past decade, he has appeared in 261 regular-season games with 186 starts. Fagundez has scored 53 goals and tallied 45 assists. There have been ups and downs in Fagundez's career with his most productive season for goals coming in 2013 (13 goals) and then a lull until 2018 when he tallied nine goals and ten assists.
At the end of the day you are talking about a young player finding his way and having his role with the team shift as coaches came in and out of the organization.
https://twitter.com/NERevolution/status/1346492906752925697
Things Didn't End Well Between The Revolution & Fagundez
The Fagundez saga has been ongoing for the past several months after contract negotiations didn't end well. New England wanted him back but the two sides couldn't agree on a deal. Fagundez was essentially benched in the fall-out of the contract negotiations. His last appearance was on 10/28 and he didn't make an appearance in any of the team's four post-season matches.
Prior to being on the outside looking in Fagundez had appeared in nine consecutive matches from 9/23-10/28. In total, he appeared in 19 matches during the 2020 season and had nine starts. With two matches to go in the regular season, Fagundez did not see the field. He remains in a tie for the most appearances in team history at 261 with Shalrie Joseph. A record that was sure to be broken in 2020 if things hadn't gone awry. Fagundez was effective for the Revolution during the 2020 season sharpening up his passing efficiency, his dribbling, and receiving abilities. Despite the team losing Carles Gil for much of the 2020 season the Revolution did not attempt to use Fagundez in the number 10 role despite that being a position he had great success in 2018. Instead, he played a number of positions for the team and despite that was able to hold his own.
Ultimately things didn't end well in New England for Fagundez but a departure was likely the best outcome for him. Could the Revs have used him in 2021? Sure. But a change of scenery and the chance for more playing time with an expansion side could be exactly what he needs to take his game to the next level. In addition to Fagundez, the club has also seen the departures of Lee Nguyen, Kelyn Rowe, Isaac Angking, and Nicolas Firmino in the midfield. So far the club has re-signed Tommy McNamara and brought in Wilfrid Kaptoum.