The Verde Report: Brandon Vazquez Is a Home-Run Add for Austin FC
Getting to know the club’s newly signed Designated Player
By Eric Goodman, Fri., Jan. 10, 2025
In the grisly, cloak-and-dagger world of professional soccer transfers, there’s no such thing as a perfect signing. But, in securing the services of 26-year-old U.S. international striker Brandon Vazquez from CF Monterrey through 2028 this week, Austin FC got about as close to one as any fan could realistically expect.
Vazquez is the kind of player coaches covet: a young, proven goalscorer with a winning pedigree, high motor, and instincts in front of goal that you just can’t teach.
The Chula Vista, Calif., native left MLS a season ago after back-to-back stellar campaigns with FC Cincinnati, in which he scored 37 total goals in 77 matches across all competitions. He was named an MLS All-Star in 2022, and finished that season on the MLS Best XI list. Prior to that, he lifted the MLS Cup as an up-and-coming member of Atlanta United in 2018. Though his latest stint in Liga MX may have been a short-lived 12 months, he still scrapped his way to 14 goals in 49 matches for Rayados.
Crucially, he’s the kind of player Austin FC has never had before. No ATX striker has ever eclipsed 10 goals in a season. No guarantee Vazquez becomes the first, but anything less would be a major surprise.
“If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s how to be in the right spot, how to put the ball in the back of the net,” Vazquez said at his introductory press conference Tuesday. “So I’m excited to be here to do that [and] see the fans cheer when that happens.”
ATX fans have already begun to gravitate to Vazquez’s confident-but-not-cocky personality. His arrival to town was met with plenty of fanfare at the Fairmont Hotel, where Vazquez snapped photos with fans and rubber chickens alike, flashing a million-dollar smile in each shot.
Actually, make that $10 million. That’s the reported fee – a club record, by a lot – it took to pry Vazquez from Monterrey, which almost certainly had other MLS clubs interested. Some pundits have suggested Austin overpaid. Bullshit.
“The market for a striker is a completely different market than for any other position. They are very precious, because everybody wants them,” sporting director Rodolfo Borrell said.
He’s right. You have a chance to land a centerpiece No. 9 in his prime, and your owner is ready to foot the bill? You don’t think twice. If anything, the higher-than-expected price tag is a feather in the cap of majority owner Anthony Precourt and his willingness to spend what it takes to make Austin FC competitive again.
Still on USMNT’s Radar
In recent years, returning to MLS was perceived as a death sentence for a player’s U.S. men’s national team selection hopes. Under new U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino, however, those concerns appear to be over. Vazquez, who has played 11 times for the Stars and Stripes and scored four times, said Pochettino gave the move his blessing.
“We’ve spoken recently, even as recent as yesterday, and yeah, as long as I’m scoring goals, as long as I’m performing, I should be in that squad. So that’s all I got to do,” Vazquez said.
The U.S. is deep at striker and Vazquez will likely be on the outside looking in more often than not, but odds are high he eventually becomes the first active Austin FC player to suit up for Team USA.
