Flyers Acquire Diego Fagundez

Fagundez arrives in exchange for First Round pick

Trickles and hints of rumors have been floating around all winter about who the Flyers might be looking to bring to the Rose City this off season. Those rumors amped up when only one DP was announced, leaving some names that have been with the club for a while like Mauro Rosales and Marvin Chavez on the outside looking in. Today however, it's confirmed. Diego Fagundez, the New England Revolution/Alamo City Battle striker who put up twenty points in the BSL last season will be making his way to the Rose City as the team's second DP. In exchange, the Flyers sent the Battle their highly coveted first round pick.

In addition to some startling hair, the striker's numbers in MLS last season startled some themselves. Seeing some minutes the year before, he's become one of the most important cogs in Jay Heaps' increasingly dangerous side. He's safe too. He's been signed to a multi-year contract within MLS where he can continue to grow and start scoring for the Flyers.

"We looked at it as an opportunity," the Flyers General Manager said when asked. "We had a good first round pick for sure, but that translated into a trade for basically anyone in the league. Instead of chancing it on the draft, we opted to pick up a guy we were sure we were looking for, who's a known quantity. Diego is a top notch guy and a rising star in both MLS and the BSL."

This brings the Flyers confirmed lineup for 2014 to three including Fagundez, Marco Di Vaio who himself put up twenty-two points last season, and the squad's first Retention Player, Aurelien Collin. Together they form the backbone of a squad looking to set things right from last season, get back into the picture for the BSL Cup, and earn the Rose City's first birth in the Majors Cup. It's a group that's just the right mix of young and experienced.

"Marco [Di Vaio] is likely retiring at the end of this MLS season and so it's important to both have a strong squad to send him off with a bang, and have some concept of where we're going once he's gone," the Flyers Head Coach explained. "We were increasingly relying on older guys or guys not getting much time last year in addition to a slew of injuries. We're starting this season off differently. We've had discussions about where to go from here and we have a strong idea of who else we'd like to have wearing the Red and Black."