Former US youth international McKinze Gaines is on trial with Austin FC and made his first appearance in the club's 3-1 loss to Tigres UANL in a friendly on Wednesday at Q2 Stadium.
Gaines, an Austin native and free agent, had been with German club Hanover 96 until this summer. The 23-year-old winger originally went to Europe to join Wolfsburg's U-19 side in 2016 before moving to Darmstadt 98 a year later. He didn't find regular playing time at any of his stops, though made 24 appearances (12 starts) for SG Sonnenhof Grobapach in the German third tier in 2019-20.
He was a regular with US youth national teams and can play anywhere across the frontline.
Austin FC have struggled for attacking output in their expansion season, with expected starting forward Danny Hoesen suffering a long-term injury after just five games while backup Aaron Schoenfeld has yet to debut due to injuries. Austin recently acquired Cameroonian forward Moussa Djitte, but he still needs to be integrated into the group.
Austin don't play this weekend and are next in action on July 22 against the Seattle Sounders.
