Chris Albright promised change, and change arrived quickly. Before a week had elapsed since the FC Cincinnati General Manager came to the dais at Mercy Health Training Center and said the roster would change, he finalized a deal with the Colorado Rapids to send center backs Chidozie Awaziem and Ian Murphy to the Rocky Mountains in exchange for One Million Dollars in General Allocation Money (GAM).
Tough business, but perhaps not unexpected. FCC had amassed what some others might describe as a gluttony of talent at the center back position, and while depth is exceedingly valuable for any team, especially at the center back position in a salary cap league, structuring a roster in such a fashion may just not be tenable.
"There's certainly movement that's going to happen with our team," Albright said last week. "What I will say is that, yeah, I think the way we've kind of built it is counter to a lot of ways teams have had success over time…before Matt (Miazga) 's injury, we were on some record pace for not allowing goals again, which is the essence of our game."
"I think that we've shown that having that quality and that depth back there, is something that can also have you win games in MLS so (that's) something that we're going to continue to look at."
FC Cincinnati still has that quality, but the movement certainly came and impacted that depth. Leaving The Orange and Blue with still a lot of elite talent in the CB room, but just a little more space to maneuver the offseason.
FCC play a "three at the back" formation, whereas other teams or systems play a "four at the back" which is a little bit of a misnomer. Teams with a four-man backline deploy two center backs and two outside backs on the left and right; FCC utilizes three center backs and still deploys those two outsides as wing-backs, meaning FCC really uses five at the back despite the phrasing.
Given that, FCC needs a little extra depth at CB to accommodate that style. But given where the roster was at, a change needed to come. They also required some salary cap flexibility to improve the roster as a whole. So, unfortunately, as punitive as it may seem, FCC needed to deal from a place of strength to gain the flexibility they needed.
The trade opens up two senior roster spots for 2025. It clears a significant chunk of change for future moves, in addition to adding allocation money to the war chest. Allocation money, referred to as GAM (or TAM in other circumstances), allows you to pay a player above the Senior Maximum wages for the league and thus is invaluable to roster building and bringing in high-quality players. There is a cap to how much GAM can be used on a single player, but FC Cincinnati has become known for being keen on bringing in as many "Max-TAM" players to create the most competitive squad possible.
The salary crunch and reason for needing flexibility come – in part – because Chidozie Awaziem was brought in as a season-ending injury replacement last season for Matt Miazga. Meaning he was able to occupy Miazga's place on the books for 2024 while he was out injured. Now, entering 2025, with the 2023 Defender of the Year expected to make a full recovery and rejoin the squad, that exemption is null. Ian Murphy is also set for a raise as he signed a new contract earlier this summer, so his bill is expected to become more expensive as well in 2025.
That doesn't make the choice any easier, but that's the business. Chidozie Awaziem was a player FCC has said they had their eyes on for years and brought in to help steady the ship, which he effectively did. But now he's gone as quickly as he debuted. Murphy has been an invaluable member of the squad since joining in 2022 as the 14th overall pick in the MLS SuperDraft and helped FCC lift its first MLS trophy in 2023, starting the clinching game. He's made 105 appearances for the club, 9th most since the jump to MLS. He has been a central part of the club, but a new adventure awaits now.
So where does FC Cincinnati go from here? Well, they still have an elite CB core with Miazga, Miles Robinson, Teenage Hadebe and Nick Hagglund (should he resign, and Albright made clear his optimism on that as well) at the center of it. That's a Defender of the Year winner and one of the only USMNT players in MLS at the head, with a former DP and a veteran presence to start from on the back line. Alvas Powell and DeAndre Yedlin have also been utilized in that position, giving some extra depth to the group if need be. FCC have also cleared some space out for the upcoming expansion draft, meaning they have fewer players to protect and thus more coverage.
But perhaps most importantly, FCC now has just a little more room to breathe and be creative within the constraints of the Salary Cap in Major League Soccer. All while still having that elite quality in the squad. There are multiple tools for player acquisition at their disposal including another DP slot if need be, at least 3 U22 spaces open, and several supplemental roster spots still in play.
Chris Albright said change was going to come, and change can be additions or subtractions of varying degrees. What this signals (as if we didn't already know this) is that Albright is a man of his word and a man with a plan and that this change allows for more down the road.
