Massive player leader and captain Derek Waldeck has departed North Texas SC, the club announced today, through a mutually agreed contract termination. The holding mid and left back will join the Greenville Triumph of USL League One.
While, in our opinion, he was never going to rise to the MLS level, Waldeck was still massively valuable. His leadership for the young development side of FC Dallas was unrivaled. His ability to play both left back and holding mid was an added benefit to the roster.
Still, it was pretty clear he was on the outside looking in on Coach Pa-Modou Kah’s starting eleven. The recent signing of holding-mid Carl Sainté on loan from New Mexico United was the writing on the wall.
Waldeck immediately took a step up in level, joining USL League One side Greenville Triumph. USL-1 is clearly a higher level of play than MLS Next Pro and Waldeck will have a chance to further his playing career.
Our take: In the long run, this is a blow for the Dallas organization as we have long felt Waldeck would make a spectacular coach if he desired to go that direction. His desire to keep playing is understandable, but hopefully, no bridges have been burned as he would be a terrific addition to the org beyond his playing days.
There is now a massive hole in the North Texas SC player leadership now and it’s not really clear who might be capable of filling that role as leader and captain.