The Verde Report: Austin FC Gives Osman Bukari SoCo Welcome, Announces CB Signing
Key signing fleshes out solid corner back roster
By Eric Goodman, Fri., June 28, 2024
Austin FC rolled out the Verde carpet Tuesday afternoon for designated player and club-record signing Osman Bukari at the Continental Club on South Congress.
A modest 4:30pm crowd composed mainly of members of the “La Murga” band, ATXFC staffers, and a handful of journalists got their first look at the 25-year-old Ghanaian winger as he exited the passenger seat of a classic lowrider, took the stage for a brief but friendly introduction, then shuffled over to a media backdrop for his first on-the-record comments as an Austin FC player.
“It’s really nice to be [given] something like this,” Bukari said of the warm (literally, it was about 95 degrees when he pulled up to SoCo) Austin welcome. “This is my first time to see something like this. I’m really happy and excited to be here.”
Austin FC represents the latest chapter in Bukari’s young career that has already included stops in six countries, from his native Ghana, to Belgium, to Slovakia, France, Serbia, and now the United States.
“It’s been amazing,” Bukari said of his globe-trotting soccer journey, but added that MLS had been on his radar as a possible destination for a while. “Since last year I was thinking [about] playing in MLS. So when this opportunity came, I didn’t want to say no to it.”
Austin was not the first, or even the second, MLS club to contact Bukari’s previous club Crvena zvezda (aka Red Star Belgrade) about potentially signing the dynamic forward, whose résumé of goalscoring includes the UEFA Champions League and FIFA World Cup.
According to an Austin FC source, both LA Galaxy and the Chicago Fire approached Crvena zvezda during the winter (MLS’s offseason) with offers around 10 million euros for Bukari. However, the Serbian champions were reluctant to sell a top player in the middle of their season (which, like most European clubs, does not sync up with MLS’s calendar).
As a result, LA and Chicago spent their money elsewhere. Then, when Cvena zvezda’s season concluded, Austin presented them with an offer of 7 million euros, which the cash-strapped club had to accept.
“It was very difficult [to sign Bukari], but in the end we got it over the line and he’s finally here,” ATXFC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell said. “Obviously one of the key things [he brings] is speed up front, in addition to some quality and, obviously, experience playing at the European level, playing at the top level.”
Bukari won’t be eligible to appear for Austin FC in a match until the MLS summer transfer window officially opens on July 18. The same goes for the club’s other two midseason signings: Danish fullback Mikkel Desler and the latest acquisition, Ukrainian center back Oleksandr Svatok.
Svatok, whose signing was announced Monday, has been competing in this month’s European Championship with Ukraine. The 29-year-old recently served as captain of his hometown club, SC Dnipro-1, in Dnipro, Ukraine.
“The fact is that this is a signing that has been going on since last November. So it’s been like an incredible journey,” Borrell said. “It’s been very complicated because of the situation in Ukraine.”
All of a sudden, the center back position that for years had plagued Austin FC with lack of consistency now appears to be arguably the club’s deepest position. Julio Cascante, Leo Väisänen, Brendan Hines-Ike, Matt Hedges, and now Svatok all profile as starting-caliber MLS CBs.
It remains to be seen if all five players remain on the roster for the rest of the season, or if ATXFC attempts to find a trade partner for Hedges, who hasn’t started a match since April.
