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TRANSFER TRACKER STATUS: Trade
Austin FC made their first official trades as an MLS club Sunday, building out their inaugural roster by acquiring a number of players via separate trades.
The club acquired Nick Lima from the San Jose Earthquakes, Jon Gallagher from Atlanta United, Julio Cascante from the Portland Timbers, Ben Sweat from Inter Miami, Ulises Segura from D.C. United, the clubs announced.
Austin sent San Jose $500,000 General Allocation Money (GAM) for Lima, $175,000 to Atlanta for Gallagher, Portland $250,000 GAM for Cascante, Miami $100,000 GAM for Sweat and $150,000 GAM to D.C. for Segura.
Lima, 26, has been a regular for the Earthquakes after signing a homegrown contract ahead of the 2016 season. He made 100 appearances with the club, featuring at both fullback positions. He is naturally a right back, though.
Sweat, 29, made 20 starts for Inter Miami in their expansion season this year. The left back previously played for NYCFC where he was a regular for three years and has made 94 MLS appearances.
Segura, 27, spent the last three years with D.C. after joining from Costa Rican club Saprissa. The midfielder has made 65 MLS appearances with five goals and three assists, though he didn’t register a goal or assist in 683 minutes in 2020.
Cascante, 27, joined Portland from Saprissa ahead of the 2018 season and made 48 appearances with the club, though only appeared in five matches this year. He is a center back.
Gallagher, who turns 25 in February, was a pleasant surprise for Atlanta this yea with four goals in 16 appearances (11 starts) He originally was selected with the No. 14 pick in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft but didn’t make an MLS appearance with the club until this year.
He spent the 2019/20 European season on loan with Scottish club Aberdeen, where he made 31 appearances across all competitions.
The players bring Austin's squad up to six players, following Paraguayan attackers Cecilio Dominguez and Rodney Redes. The MLS half-day trade window opened Sunday at 9 am ET and closed at 1 pm ET, commencing the official start to the offseason.
Austin will soon be on the clock for the Expansion Draft on Tuesday at 6 pm ET.
