FC Dallas executives decided Wednesday night to reject an offer from Argentine club San Lorenzo for winger MIchael Barrios and forward Maxi Urruti, team president Dan Hunt told Goal.
The Argentine club, which hoped to bring in the Dallas attacking duo along with Tigres midfielder Lucas Zelarayan as it prepares for the Copa Libertadores quarterfinals, put offers for both players on the table with the total value at $5 million, according to Hunt.
But the team president and owner said that with the MLS transfer window closed, the timing wasn't right for either player to make a move.
"Our goal here is win a championship, to win MLS Cup, and those are two very valuable pieces to the club for winning," Hunt told Goal. "The statistics don’t lie. (Maxi is) our leading goalscorer and Miky’s leading the group in assists right now. Miky can be a very dangerous goalscorer too. That makes it difficult, although we feel we have young players here who can step in and contribute. For our fans, we’ve told them from the beginning, we want to win MLS Cup. That’s our top priority. We’ve told them from the beginning now and doing that would be counter to that."
While both players confessed there was some interest on their part in joining a South American giant, Hunt said each player also had a desire to stay with both hoping to help FCD win its first-ever MLS Cup.
Barrios also said the atmosphere that coach Oscar Pareja has fostered at the club contributed to his desire to help the club lift silverware.
"This club, for me, is huge. It’s a family that has welcomed me," Barrios told Goal this week. "Since I got here, the directors, whole coaching staff, my teammates who have been with me. They’ve always extended their hand to me when I need it most. They’ve spoken with me in the hard times and that’s why I’ve tried to give everything I have.
"The team gave me the chance to leave Colombia and I’m very thankful (to) them, thankful to everyone here. I think the most important thing now is to keep trying to give new things to them, more happy moments with the club, game by game and season by season. Now I have to wait for what might happen and take it a moment at a time."
Hunt said that time might be this winter, or it may be other players who seek opportunities away from FCD.
"In the next transfer window, there may or not be offers for them. I would highly suspect that we’ll have offers for other players in the next transfer window. We’ll just need to be prepared," Hunt said. "Winter is obviously much easier to transfer players, but it’s never easy to let them go. If that opportunity presents themselves, we’ll consider it as long as we can make the club better.
"This was not going to help us, even though $5 million was a big offer for these two players. You could definitely do things to help, but not in this window. Again, for our fans, we want to win."
