FRISCO, Texas -- The rebuilding of FC Dallas has taken a real step forward this week as the team has looked to strenghten each line in the squad.
The club addressed one offseason need, on the left side of the midfield, by trading for ex-New York Red Bulls winger Dave van den Bergh. The team signed center back Steve Purdy, then drafted another center back in George John in Thursday's SuperDraft. Forward depth came in the draft when the team selected Peri Marosevic and Brian Shriver.
"One of our goals this offseason was to get more size, more strength and more speed in the backline. We wanted to tighten up the backline, add a left-sided midfielder and a No. 10 to complement a great team that we have," FCD president/general manager Michael Hitchcock said. "In Purdy and George (John), we're adding two very good players that have the potential to be great center backs in this league."
After the van den Bergh trade set the stage for draft day, the addition of Purdy almost sailed under the radar.
"Purdy is a player that a couple of years ago would have been one of the top center backs in the draft," Hitchcock said. "He decided to sign in Germany. For us, we think there's a ton of upside with that acquisition. He's big. He's strong. He's fast and has got all the characteristics of a good defender.
FCD head coach Schellas Hyndman, who at this time last year was coaching Southern Methodist University before taking over the Hoops at midseason, was well acquainted with the draft pool.
"One of the advantages of coaching college is that I saw George John play last year against SMU, and I liked him," Hyndman said. "I think maybe at the next level, he'll be a center back. He came in (to the combine) with a torn meniscus and was probably 85 percent. As I continued to watch him, he didn't lose a head ball in three games. He very seldom made a bad pass. He's a possession type of player and he's been coached very well at the University of Washington."
Hyndman was equally pleased about his two newest additions up top.
"What Peri (Marosevic) offers is that he's a very good finisher of the ball. He makes great runs, he's a great passer, he holds the ball well and he seems to have a really good spirit about himself," Hyndman said. "When we created our list, I had Peri No. 1 and (Steve) Zakuani No. 2 and as it turns out, it worked the other way. But the way the draft fell for us, Peri was still available when we had the fifth pick.
"Brian (Shriver) was here at the College Cup and had a great two games," Hyndman continued. "He's a very active player, has good speed. He was a player that we identified earlier. I was very impressed with him as far as consistency and hard work. His coach at North Carolina is a good friend and we talked a couple times about him. In fact I called him the other day and asked why he wasn't at the combine. I think everybody was shocked that he wasn't at the combine."
Even with these additions, one need remains unfilled -- an attacking midfielder. That role was held by two-time MLS all-star Juan Toja until he left for Romania last August. Since then, rookies Eric Avila and Bruno Guarda manned the No. 10 spot with mixed results. And after the end of the season, Hyndman expressed a desire to bring an attacking midfielder in during the offseason, whether it was by trading with another team in the league or by signing an international.
Preseason practice starts for FCD next Wednesday and they have yet to sign that player.
"We need to go sign that No. 10," Hitchcock said. "If we can't bring in that top-class No. 10, we certainly have players who are capable, can play that position, will do well and will continue to get better. If we can bring in a top-notch, international No. 10, we feel like we're going to be a team to reckon with."
Hitchcock added that the club is currently in negotiations with a pair of attacking midfielders, both from South America, but nothing has been finalized of yet.
"There is a chance that the deal could be done or that we know the deal will not happen with the No. 1 player we have identified and a couple of other players out there," Hitchcock said. "It's possible that the deal could be done but that doesn't mean we'll have the player at Pizza Hut Park for the first day of training. We certainly are using that as the logical deadline to make a decision and to know exactly whether the player will be here or not."
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