What to know as Charlotte FC exits historic season and enters first offseason in MLS
Charlotte FC’s inaugural season was dynamic with history and fandom and excitement. It now enters its inaugural offseason full of questions.
Among those questions: Is leading goal-scorer Karol Swiderski coming back? What about Premier League champion defender Christian Fuchs? And when will it become official that Christian Lattanzio — the interim head coach who was integral in his club’s climb onto the cusp of MLS playoff contention — is Charlotte FC’s guy for the long term?
Here’s what you should know.
Update on Karol Swiderski
Charlotte FC fans didn’t need any extra anxiety in September — a month that featured a team resurgence that bordered on unbelievable. But plenty of anxiety came anyway.
The week of the Queen City team’s matchup with Philadelphia Union at home, rumors that the team’s leading goal-scorer might soon play for another club began to swirl. Swiderski’s agent told PSN Futbol that there’s “no lack of offers” for the 25-year-old striker — a comment that came after Swiderski performed well on the international stage, scoring the only goal in Poland’s 1-0 victory over Wales on Sept. 25.
The CLTFC striker will likely go to the World Cup in November. But is Swiderski going anywhere this offseason?
Charlotte FC immediately and resolutely responded to queries about Swiderski’s future last month.
“Right now, Karol Swiderski is absolutely untouchable,” CLTFC sporting director Zoran Krneta told WFNZ. “That’s not even a discussion.”
Lattanzio shrugged off the rumors in his own, confident way: “With the little bit of experience that I have, I assume that when a player, a striker who is the captain of his team and plays in a good league ... I believe the interest on the player is gonna (rise). That’s just logical.”
Swiderski, when asked directly if he will return to Charlotte FC next season, shrugged his shoulders and said, “Of course.”
“I’m a Charlotte player,” Swiderski told reporters after the team’s match against Columbus Crew last week. “I have four years on (my contract). ... I don’t think about leaving, you know?”
Swiderski’s return would be a welcomed one. Since being acquired as a Designated Player from Greek club PAOK FC in January, the striker has grown into a star in MLS: He scored 10 goals in 2022 — including twice in a comeback, season-defining, must-win game against Chicago last month — and notched four assists. He’ll be the centerpiece in what has the potential to be a loaded attack next season, particularly with the emergence of Daniel Rios (who scored six goals in the team’s final five matches) and the re-signing of Andre Shinyashiki (who came off the bench toward the end of the season but still has plenty of potential to deliver on, as was evident in his extra-time goal against Columbus last week).
What does Christian Lattanzio’s future with CLTFC look like?
A league source confirmed to The Charlotte Observer last month that Charlotte FC is in negotiations to bring Lattanzio, who’s currently the interim head coach, back as the permanent manager. The coach with a Premier League pedigree took over in May after CLTFC fired its first coach, Miguel Angel Ramirez, in May.
When asked last month, Charlotte FC president Joe LaBue confirmed that the club was in negotiations to bring Lattanzio back and told reporters that news of Lattanzio’s future would come “soon.”
“We want to head into the offseason, like we’ve said, with some consistency,” LaBue said. “That’s big for us. We don’t want this to linger. But we also didn’t want this to be a distraction while we were chasing a playoff spot.”
Lattanzio is a steadying force. He preached patience during his team’s midseason slump and relied on routine when his team got hot. He regularly acknowledged fan desires, like when they began questioning Shinyashiki’s dwindling role this summer, but he never made any abrupt changes.
His overall approach to coaching, players said, was understated and exacting and player-developmentally focused — and remarkably different than his brash predecessor: The first practices after Ramirez was removed and Lattanzio inherited the interim role, Fuchs (the team captain and veteran defender) said there were “fractures” between the players and the Ramirez-led coaching staff and that there was “relief” at the dawn of Lattanzio’s leadership.
Lattanzio’s work bore fruit at the end of the season, when the club notched three wins in a row for the first time in its history to set up a must-win home match against Columbus Crew. His impact was felt by the most important players in the club, too.
“Everyone likes him, and even fans, I think,” Swiderski said of his coach after his team’s final home game last week. “It’s a fantastic culture. What he does with our group, it’s crazy because how we play before and how we play now, we’ve improved a lot. And next season, we can be much, much, much better if we give him also time to prepare and compete, and to give him time for the preseason, then I think next season will be much better for us.”
Future of Christian Fuchs and rest of Charlotte FC back line
One of the most encouraging parts of Charlotte FC’s late-season revival was the transformation of its back line.
No doubt that the transformation started with heartbreak. In Charlotte FC’s loss to Chicago on Aug. 6, the club lost key center back defender Guzman Corujo for the season with an ACL tear. What ensued was a defense with a lot of players dutifully playing out of position to mixed avail: The Queen City team would go on to lose four of its next five matches, allowing on average 2.6 goals per game during that stretch (including a 5-0 drubbing against LA FC).
The team rebounded, though, and that rebound coincided with the introduction of two summer acquisitions — Nathan Byrne, a former English Championship defender, and Adilson Malanda, who was signed from French club Rodez AF.
Once their work visas were sorted, the two became fixtures in Charlotte FC’s starting 11. They helped reassert CLTFC’s defense as a strength. All of this went on even as team captain Fuchs was serving suspensions for the team’s last three playoff-implicating games of the season.
Speaking of Fuchs: His next move could shape the Queen City’s defense next season. Before the team’s inaugural year, the 36-year-old signed a one-year deal with a club option for 2023. He primarily played left-back and is one of a plethora of players capable of playing the position: Joseph Mora, the 29-year-old defender, is signed through 2023. Harrison Afful, also 36, proved he could play left back in Fuchs’s stead.
It’s worth mentioning, too, that 24-year-old center back Anton Walkes signed a deal with the club in February through 2024 with an option for 2025.
So what, exactly, will this team’s defense look like come February 2023? That answer, it appears, begins with what Fuchs does.
What to do with Charlotte FC’s designated player roster spot
Lattanzio said in a news conference before his team’s match against New York Red Bulls that he is not shying away from the prospects of signing players this offseason.
“Obviously, I cannot name names, but I assure you that there are many, many players — and not just from within this league, but also from Europe — who have made inquiries to try to come,” Lattanzio said. The coach added later, “I think the front office has been very clear in explaining how they want to improve. I think there will be more resources available. The organization and (team owner Dave Tepper) are very supportive.”
This all poses a compelling possibility: What can — and what will — Charlotte FC do with a potentially open designated roster spot?
The Designated Player Rule in MLS allows clubs to acquire up to three players “whose total compensation and acquisition costs exceed the Maximum Salary Budget Charge.” It’s essentially a way for clubs to attract impact players that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to under the league’s salary cap restrictions. And it’s effective: Thiago Almada, for instance, was acquired by Atlanta United in February on a reported MLS-record $16 million transfer fee, a move made possible by the designated player rule. He’d later be nominated for Most Valuable Player and Young Player of the Year.
Without getting too much into the weeds, CLTFC currently has three players occupying DP roster spots. Those guys are Swiderski, Kamil Jozwiak and Jordy Alcivar. The club, however, has the flexibility to change Alcivar’s designation, which could make room for the club to go out and get an impact player this offseason.
“I think we will see a team that will be improved,” Lattanzio continued. “And I think we should do things step-by-step, to have good expectations but to manage them as well.”
The team is on a one-week break after its regular season finale. The players will then arrive back for another three weeks, Lattanzio said, where the club plans on organizing friendlies “to continue working on the things we’re working on.”
In short, the work — for the coach and front office and players — begins again soon.
“We will be filling the week as if it was a normal week,” Lattanzio said of this year’s offseason, adding, “We want to be totally focused on developing our identity, like I’ve said many times. It’s not just words, empty words. ... In our case, if we can use those three weeks to keep working and developing our identity and becoming more and more familiar with our principles of play, the better (we can be).
“And I know the boys, they want it.”
This story was originally published October 13, 2022 at 5:45 AM.
