FC Dallas Chairman Clark Hunt spent some time on The Ticket last week talking about the family’s Superbowl-bound Kansas City Chiefs. While on air, the elder Hunt brother mentioned that FC Dallas would announce a big addition from LigaMX shortly after Sunday’s AFC Championship game.
At the opening press conference of the year this morning Clark’s younger brother and FC Dallas President, Dan Hunt, announced that Franco Jara would join FC Dallas from Pachuca.
“I’m pleased to announce that FC Dallas has signed Franco Jara on a pre-contract from Pachuca. He’ll be arriving this summer, and this is a massive signing for the club.”
Dan Hunt
Jara will join Dallas on a three year Designated Player contract in July, after his current contract expires. FC Dallas has been attempting to bring the Argentine striker to Frisco early, although reports suggest that Pachuca held out for as much as $5m.
“It’s a three-year contract with options on top of that. The largest contract in the history of the club and I’m excited for Major League Soccer. This is a big-time soccer player. This is a guy who’s been dominant in Liga MX.”
Dan Hunt
The 31-year-old previously spent time in Europe with Olympiacos, Granada, and Benfica prior to joining the Mexican club in 2015. He has four caps with the Argentine national team.
Jara is a regular presence for Los Tuzos, starting against Chivas on Sunday, his 18th start since the 2019 Liga MX Apertura began in July. In that time he has only missed two games – both through suspension – and scored nine goals.
“He is a mobile nine that helps in build, so he makes moves into the Midfield . He can make diagonals wide. He has production wide as well. But in the Box, he’s very talented. He has a great instinct to get on the end of service, to create goals on his own with his resources on the dribble, in combination, and I would say without the ball he’s a pain for back lines in terms of pressure, in terms of transition and and helping the team recover and get the ball back.”
Luchi Gonzalez
Hunt mentioned making a multi-million dollar offer in 2018 as part of a pursuit that began with a 3rd minute goal in Frisco in the 2017 Concacaf Champions League semi-final first leg. He also scored and assisted in the second leg as Pachuca ended Dallas’ challenge and went on to win the competition.
Despite being stonewalled thus far in attempting to bring the new striker to town prior to the summer, Hunt mentioned that Technical Director Andre Zanotta continues to attempt to secure Jara’s early release.
In 159 appearances for Pachuca to date, Jara has recorded 77 goals and 19 assists.