Damon Gumbert
The summer transfer window is officially closed, and that means it was time to talk to Chris Albright about what the club did and did not do.
What Happened
The club announced the signings of David Doudera from SK Slavia Prague, a wide midfielder the club expects to slide in at wingback, and Julian Malatini, a 25-year-old centerback from Argentina, Doudera is signed through the 2027-28 MLS season with an option for the 2028-29 season, while Malatini is here on loan from German Bundesliga side SV Werder Bremen through the 2027 “sprint” season.
When Albright was asked about bringing in Doudera, he spoke about what the Czechian brings to the table, saying, “A worker, a winner, Pavel (Bucha) who knows him very well says, ‘Chris, you know I’m competitive, but David’s a different level.’ Hearing that from Pavel was very comforting. A player with a ton of experience: Champions League experience, World Cup experience, so we think those two pieces can shore up some of the leaks in the back.”
Albright was asked about the financials behind the transfer, with the number being reported at around $500k. “There was a bit of a political thing that occurred in Slavia that you can probably look up, but I don’t need to get into here. Ultimately, he wasn’t going to be a Slavia player; we tracked him for quite a bit of time during the window…we were able to get a really good deal for a high value player.”
I tried looking it up and couldn’t find anything about Slavia’s political or financial situation, so if someone can send me something, that would be great.
When it came to talking about Malatini, Albright had a lot of interesting things to say about the process and why they chose the Argentine.
“We looked at probably over 300 centerbacks this window. I think three or four rose to the level of where we see Julian as a fit for FC Cincinnati,” Albright said. “The market was barren, I would say, a bit more so than in years past.”
“Really happy with Julian, pedigree-wise. Argentinian U-23s then have Bundesliga experience at 25 and be physically and athletically what we look for. Not most importantly, but certainly there's the character piece. He’s a winner, he’s learned German and English, he’s a bright kid who wants to get better, and we think his ceiling is not close to reached.”
Malatini does come with some risk. The 25-year-old has only played in 11 matches during the 2025-26 Bundesliga campaign for Werder Bremen, eventually going down with an injury in March that Albright said he had surgery to correct.
“We saw that as a great market opportunity,” Albright said. “Bundesliga experience at 25-years-old, with those athletic traits, we don’t really have concern about the injuries.”
When I asked Albright about a crowded centerback squad that includes locked on starters Matt Miazga and Miles Robinson, and then also includes the likes of Andrei Chirila, Nick Hagglund, Teenage Hadebe, and players like Samuel Gidi, Kyle Smith, and Alvas Powell who have all put in time on the back line, where does that leave room for someone like Malatini, he said, “My job is to add the most talented players that we can, and Pat’s job is to employ that how he sees fit.”
What Didn’t Happen
While the focus initially was on what the club had been able to cobble together during the window, there were still questions about what they hadn’t done. The team sits in sixth place in the Eastern Conference table while also being in 13th in the Supporter’s Shield “race” (Nashville has it bagged). The offense was on fire going into the World Cup break, but since coming out, it has lost some of that electricity that had kept the team going when the defense was lacklustre.
Head Coach Pat Noonan has been deploying a bench that has, at best, three potential offensive substitutions in the form of Ayoub Jabbari, Tom Barlow, and loosely Bryan Ramirez. That means that six players on the bench were defensively focused, and many have barely seen the pitch this season. I asked Albright if there had been any consideration in bringing more offensive players in that could help respark the team.
“Offensive production isn’t something I’m really worried about,” Albright said. “We spoke about it, and we had opportunities… with the signing of a centerback Sam Gidi might get pushed back into the midfield. Now where does Dado find himself? I think we have enough offensive talent. We looked at opportunities, and frankly we thought in some ways (it was) unfair to bring in someone to drop on top of those guys who have had a lot of production.”
It was reported during the summer that recent Premier League promotees Hull City and La Liga side Real Betis had called FC Cincinnati about a potential deal for Kevin Denkey. The deals were both turned down by FC Cincinnati, with the reported numbers being barely more than FCC had paid to get Denkey to MLS.
It then came out during an interview that Denkey had negotiated terms with Hull City. The striker said that while his mind was on playing in Cincinnati, it did wander to the possibility of playing against a team like Manchester United, who Hull City dismantled on Matchday-1, 2-0.
When I was asking about the transfer rumor, Albright made sure to mention that Denkey had not necessarily been allowed to negotiate with either team, but that FCC were not upset with him about this. I asked Albright about whether the offers for Denkey had come anywhere close to the valuation the club had.
“Not really,” he said. “We spent a lot of money for Kevin; he’s been very productive for us. I think he could be even more productive; I think he thinks he can be more productive. So there’s a valuation where, to send Kevin to a Champions League team…that’s the story we pitched to Kev. Come trust us, and we’re going to put you in a better place. That also has to meet FC Cincinnati’s financial valuation, and it just didn’t.”
Conclusion
Albright said that the club is still talking to a couple of free agents that could be added in the coming days and weeks until the rosters become locked. That being said, it’s hard not to look at this window and be a smidge disappointed.
Yes, the club did address two of its biggest needs: a regular everyday wingback and a potential new starting centerback. What it did not do was move on from players that it’s already paying who are not good enough to play right now. The club just added two new players who push Powell and Hadebe further down the depth chart but apparently not far enough to have their contracts bought out.
Powell and Hagglund feel like two guys who will likely retire with FC Cincinnati, possibly in the coming year or so, but Hadebe is a fully healthy centerback who has seen his minutes dwindle over the past two years. A player who was brought in to replace Hagglund while he was injured in 2024, Hadebe has quickly seen himself ousted from his position by the likes of Gidi, Chirila, and Smith.
Albright said it is his job to put the most talented players in the room and Noonan’s job to deploy them, but is the job complete when you’re spending millions of dollars on players who aren’t good enough to play? Wouldn’t using that money on a different position, to try and strengthen the talent there, be a better use than having the fifth-best centerback make over a million dollars a year?
There is still time for something like that to happen, though. If Albright were talking to, say, a second striker who would elevate the team into a better spot than Kenji Mboma-Dem or Barlow, would he pull the trigger on freeing up salary cap room by buying out Hadebe? One would hope so, but for now, we will have to settle for the small gains that we did get.
