Major League Soccer’s Secondary Transfer Window slammed shut at midnight Wednesday. And FC Cincinnati’s window to seriously contend for MLS Cup this season might have closed along with it. Let’s get to the two transactions first.
The headline move is winger David Douděra, a longtime veteran of the Czech First League who suited up for the Czech national team in the recent World Cup. The 28-year-old’s arrival should push Pavel Bucha, FCC’s versatile iron man and Douděra’s former teammate at Slavia Prague, back into his two-way midfield role. If Douděra can offer consistent two-way wingback play, he’ll supply a trait the club has been searching for since the here-and-there highs of the DeAndre Yedlin Era.
The other addition was Julian Malantini, a 25-year-old center back who joined on loan from German first-division side Werder Bremen. He’s logged just 16 starts since the start of the 2023 season and hasn’t played a competitive match since March 15. Injuries were a factor in his stunted development in Germany, though.
This isn’t the type of impact defensive reinforcement I’ve been eyeing. Money is tight, admittedly, in part because the front office unwisely directed its center back investment to making Miles Robinson a Designated Player and dumped a big chunk of General Allocation Money on Teenage Hadebe in 2024. Matt Miazga hasn’t been the same since a serious knee injury in 2024. Both he and Hadedbe are on expiring contracts.
Back to Malantini for a second. He’d hardly be the first center back to join a top-five league at age 22 and fail to make a dent. That’s hardly an indictment of a player’s ability to hold his own in MLS, a far lesser league than the Bundesliga. If Malantini can stick at right center back, Samuel Gidi, who has deputized at center back most of the season, could spend more time at his natural midfield position. Things are not going well defensively when two of your three best ball-playing midfielders have been playing wingback (Bucha) and center back (Gidi) for much of 2026.
I find myself unenthused by the two moves, a feeling I think is likely shared by most of the FCC fanbase. We’ll never know the full extent of what deals were and weren’t on the table, though General Manager Chris Albright said Thursday that they scouted 300 center backs this summer. It’s difficult to be all-in every season, though I’d argue that taking advantage of another MVP-caliber season by Evander and possibly the last season of Kevin Denkey makes one think hard about going for it.
The case against not going for it in 2026 rests on the argument that the defense, shredded to pieces vs. Nashville in a 4-0 loss last weekend, is irredeemable for 2026. Through 22 of 34 league matches, only Orlando and Sporting Kansas City (the league’s worst team) have surrendered more goals. Cincinnati’s last league clean sheet came on April 25.
Even as I type this, I’m talking myself into the current strategy being the right path. FC Cincinnati are comfortably in Eastern Conference playoff position and can take the season’s final two months to test out its best defensive setup. Evander could very well get hot and spur a postseason run all by himself. And the front office has a sprint season to think about beginning in February.
Then again, I’m reminded by a pair of recent “standing pat” or “adding around the fringes” approaches taken by the city’s two longstanding pro sports franchises—and the lessons they can offer.
Take the Bengals. Prior to the 2025 season, they pinned their defensive hopes on youth and a new defensive coordinator. The result was disastrous; the Who Deys yielded nearly 30 points per game. The mistake was not repeated this offseason. Proven veteran producers were added—most notably in the form of 6-foot-5, 350-pound Sexy Dexy.
As for the Reds, they approached this offseason in similar fashion as the 2025 Bengals. Yes, Geno Suarez returned, but management banked on internal improvement producing an upswing in wins. Four months after the mirage of finishing April in first place, the Reds are now six games under .500 and own the National League’s second-worst run differential at minus-108.
I can’t help but think that FC Cincinnati has left its players shorthanded for the rest of 2026. The season’s final push begins Saturday with a home match vs. D.C. United.
Grant Freking is in his eighth year of FC Cincinnati coverage for Cincinnati Magazine.
