Ricardo Pepi moved from El Paso to Frisco to join FC Dallas when he was 13 in search of better competition on the soccer field and a path to becoming a...
Pepi has been expected to move to Europe for some time, going from rising star to top prospect in a matter of months. Pepi became a guaranteed starter for FC Dallas in the summer and soon repeated the feat by becoming the first-choice No. 9 for the United States national team in the fall.
There were indications FCD would try to hang on to the forward, who turns 19 on January 9, and see him play out at least one season of the contract extension signed in summer of 2021 that would’ve kept him at the club through 2026. Yet, club sources toldthat the club’s ownership long have valued Pepi at $20 million, and with Augsburg’s offer arriving, combined with the player’s desire to move abroad this winter, the time was right to make a sale.
FCD has done business with Augsburg before, selling Ecuador international midfielder Carlos Gruezo to the German side in the summer of 2019. Yet, the typically mid-table German club now finds itself in a different stratosphere in the market, with American investor David S. Blitzer now involved in the ownership group.