Why FC Cincinnati is confident it can extend Luciano Acosta's contract

Oskar Olsen is a fairly recognizable figure in world soccer, and that recognition spans the continents on which the sport flourishes. He's a renowned agent and his presence Thursday at FC Cincinnati's Mercy Health Training Center made it clear something interesting was happening inside the facility.

Olsen revealed himself while taking a phone call along the perimeter track surrounding FCC's daily training session. After the practice session ended, Olsen and FC Cincinnati captain Luciano Acosta lingered on the fields for a one-on-one conversation.

"We were talking about everything. Things in Argentina. Things here," Acosta said during a previously-scheduled news conference with local media. "Talking about a bunch of different things."

Was Acosta's contract discussion with FCC also a topic of conversation? He didn't say that exactly, but it was definitely a subject discussed by other interested parties on the premises.

Just prior to Acosta's media engagement, FC Cincinnati GM Chris Albright also spoke during a scheduled session with local media and confirmed he was in talks with Acosta and Olsen on a possible contract extension for the player.

"His agent's here today who we have a really good relationship with," Albright said. "We're really happy with where 'Lucho's' at. We think Lucho's really happy and settled, and from everything that we see is in a really good place and wants to be here, and we want him to be here. So, we'll be able to figure out how to get that done."

Acosta is in the final guaranteed year of a three-year deal, although FC Cincinnati has a club option to retain him next season. Absent an extension, FCC would almost certainly move to exercise the option given Acosta's importance to the team, but it's usually a good business practice in sports to at least hear out your best players when they're unsettled on contract matters.

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Acosta more than meets the criteria of a player worth hearing out as far as an extension is concerned.

Aside from captaining the team for the third consecutive year in 2023 − and that's been an important feature of Acosta's time at FCC, a fact he reiterated again Thursday − Acosta has 17 goals and 31 assists in 66 career appearances for Cincinnati.

Not surprisingly, Acosta is seeking to leverage his success with FC Cincinnati to secure his future with the team. In 2022, he wedged his named into the league's MVP conversation, so his situation warrants addressing now. The beginning of contract extension talks is also a natural progression from Acosta's reported interest in testing the European markets this past offseason.

"Players want security," Albright said. "That is completely understood. People want security, especially people that are really good at soccer. Like I said, I think we'll be able to figure that out."

Brandon Vazquez to Borussia Monchengladbach?

News broke this week of German Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach's interest in FC Cincinnati's Brandon Vazquez, who is at the height of his goal-scoring powers at 24 years old. That makes him a prime target to move to Europe, which Vazquez is interested in as it would aid his pursuit of playing for the USMNT in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Albright confirmed Monchengladbach's interest in Vazquez but categorized the nature of that interest as strictly verbal. As in no formal offer and dollar figures had yet been attached to it.

Absent a formal offer, Albright indicated verbal interest alone made Monchengladbach just one of Vazquez's many admirers.

"Until there's something in my inbox that has a number on it, I can't have conversations with ownership about it," Albright said. "I haven't had that yet. You know, Chivas (Guadalajara) presented an offer of $7 million (previously), so I can say that. That was actually an email that was sent to me − on letterhead with a signature on it. That I consider real, so until there's something like that, but obviously there's a lot of clubs that have interest in Brandon. He's a really good players who is a really good goal-scorer and a great kid and we want the best for him. When the time is right, we'll figure out what that next step is."

Vazquez is coming off a career year in 2022 with 20 goals in all competitions, an MLS All-Star Game selection and a contract extension of his own. He's scored 24 of his 26 career goals for FCC in the last 18 months and in January earned his first-ever senior USMNT call-up.

Vazquez opened his scoring account for the 2023 season Saturday against Nashville SC.

Can FC Cincinnati keep its core players together? Albright says yes

The confluence of Acosta's contract talks and Vazquez's latest link to a big, foreign club was a reminder for FC Cincinnati and its fans. MLS is both a salary cap league and an incubator for aspiring talent, and those realities make it hard to keep good, championship-contending MLS teams together.

Beyond Acosta and Vazquez, FC Cincinnati rosters Brenner Souza da Silva, who has long held aspirations of playing for a major club in Europe. Alvaro Barreal, too, is an increasingly strong candidate to land in one of the so-called "top five" leagues in Europe, those being the first-divisions leagues of England, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

Other emerging talents like goalkeeper Roman Celentano could eventually enter the transfer conversation, too.

It's not as if FC Cincinnati would come out of those transfer transactions empty-handed. European clubs pay good money for MLS assets, and that money can be used to reload with more talent. But clubs can take competitive dips and be stripped bare in that process., too.

For now, the talent appears to be dispersed evenly across FCC's roster. The team has a reliable starting lineup and depth to backfill it, a point Albright underscored by noting the team has no glaring wants and needs in the open market.

Salary cap situations at MLS clubs are something of a trade secret but it's thought that FC Cincinnati's salary cap is in working order, and working for the club.

Even in acknowledging that FC Cincinnati had players that might need to be transferred abroad for a variety of reasons, Albright said he didn't anticipate stripping bare what appears to be another playoff-caliber FCC squad in 2023.

"The challenge that we're up against (with Europe) is that our seasons don't line up in all the places that these players want to go," Albright said. "So, first and foremost, our priority is to win. I'm tasked with winning from ownership. I want to win for FC Cincinnati and the fans of Cincinnati, so, look, we do have a good team regardless of what the expectations are. We want to try to keep as much of that together to be able to compete and get to the playoffs and try to win something. There's not gonna be some sort of firesale where there's a shell of the team that (started) the season.

"But look, the reality is MLS currently is not the NBA, and so Luka Doncic comes here. I think similarly, our players want to go there (to Europe). I think, you know, year over year, it's become a more attractive place to be in MLS but we're still up against - that's where these players want to go. They want to play in (UEFA) Champions League. We're in a very unique position where the players control some of that too, right? So you have to balance the sort of emotional want of the player with trying to compete and continuing to try to win.

"It's not a straightforward answer but, like I said, our number one job here is to try to win for Carl Lindner III."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why FC Cincinnati is confident it can extend Luciano Acosta's contract