Dec 3 FC Cincinnati Start Off-Season HOT; Kevin Denkey, Luca Orellano, Alvaro Barreal, & More! | OneFootball

FC Cincinnati have started off their off-season heading into 2025 with a bang! The club has announced the purchase option off of their loan of Luca Orellano (a reported $3m fee as per Tom Bogert), announcing picking up their contract option on Alvaro Barreal, as well as breaking the inbound MLS transfer record on striker Kevin Denkey from Cercle Brugge. Let’s take a look at some of these moves.

While on loan from Vasco da Gama, Luca Orellano stared in 2024 for FC Cincinnati. The 24 year old Argentine featured as a wingback, attacking midfielder, and even up top for Cincy this year. In about 3,300 minutes across all competitions, Orellano scored 12 goals and recorded 5 assists. Also during his time this season, he was named a 2024 MLS All Star and won the 2024 MLS Goal of the Year. Orellano starred as the “Alvaro Barreal” this year and getting him on a $3m deal is a STEAL! This was a “no duh” move to bring him in officially.

Now, I just mentioned Alvaro Barreal above and in a shocking move… he is potentially back for Cincinnati in 2025! Now look, I’ll keep this one short as I most likely think Barreal will be transferred away. But imagine if he’s not. Imagine if the 24 year old Argentine returns to this club after a successful stint down in Brazil where he scored 2 goals and recorded 4 assists across all competitions. Barreal thrived playing with Lucho Acosta in 2023, recording 21 goal contributions across all competitions. If the front office can mend the relationship here, having Barreal at LWB and pushing Orellano up the field could be a game changer for this club.

Now let’s get back into reality. The reality of this off-season is that FC Cincinnati sent a shot to the rest of Major League Soccer. After deciding to not bring back Nicholas Gioacchini and Kevin Kelsey (who were on loan deal), the club went out and got their star DP striker in Kevin Denkey. The 24 year old Denkey is coming over from Belgium on a reported deal (Tom Bogerting reporting) of $16.2m which breaks the MLS record of a transfer fee spent on a player. The Togo international striker comes over from Cercle Brugge where he currently has 19 goals contributions in almost 1,900 minutes this season. Denkey won the Golden Boot in the Belgian 1st division last season as well, scoring 27 goals. In 191 1st team games in his career, he’s scored 69 goals and 22 assists playing for the likes of Cercle Brugge, Nimes, and AS Beziers. For Togo, he has 9 goals and 1 assist in 38 caps across World Cup qualifying, AFCON qualifying, and friendlies. What does all of that mean? THIS DUDE KNOWS HOW TO SCORE! Pairing that with the likes of a former MLS MVP and 2024 Best XI player in Lucho Acosta? FC Cincinnati could have a really fun attack in 2025.