FC Dallas has completed the transfer of Croatian striker Petar Musa.
The 25-year-old striker joins from Portuguese club Benfica, in what FC Dallas touts as a ‘club-record fee’. Rumors broke domestically from Tom Bogert, and internationally via Fabrizio Romano – reporting a fee of $9.7m with a further $3.3m in add-ons, exceeding the $7m FC Dallas paid for Alan Velasco in 2022.
Dan Hunt spoke at the Cotton Bowl about potentially setting a new franchise record in signing a forward prior to the 1-0 win over Inter Miami, and can now boast of achieving that goal.
“We’re excited to bring Petar to FC Dallas. His offensive production in the Primeira League illustrates his scoring ability and we’re confident he will boost our attack,” said FC Dallas President Dan Hunt. “This landmark signing reflects our commitment to competing at the highest level and he’s going to be a great complement to our talented roster.”
A native of Zagreb, Croatia, Musa has six caps for the Croatian national team since making his debut in March of last year.
Musa had five goals and two assists in 514 minutes spread across 14 appearances in the 2023/24 league season. He also featured in all six of Benfica’s Champions League group games.
Prior to joining the Portuguese giants in mid-2022, the 6’3″ striker spent five years at Slavia Prague with loan spells including Union Berlin, and teaming with Reggie Cannon at Boavista.
Head Coach Nico Estevez confirmed in a media availability that his new number nine will join up with the team in Sotogrande, Spain on Friday.
In addition to the club-record transfer fee, FC Dallas also parted with $100,000 in General Allocation Money to acquire the player’s rights from New England Revolution. Musa will occupy both a Designated Player and international roster spot.
Transaction
- Full Name: Petar Musa (PEh-tur mOO-sAH)
- Connect with Petar: Instagram
- Position: Forward
- Height: 6’2’
- Weight: 185
- Date of Birth: March 4, 1998 (25)
- Birthplace: Zagreb, Croatia
- Nationality: Croatia
- Language Spoken: English, Croatian, Portuguese
- Previous Club: Sport Lisboa e Benfica
Transaction: FC Dallas signed 25-year-old Croatian forward Petar Musa to a four-year Designated Player contract with an option for the 2028 season. Dallas acquired Musa’s Discovery Priority from the New England Revolution in exchange for $100,000 in 2024 General Allocation Money (GAM).
Hey that’s the new jersey in that picture with Zanotta, right?
It’s refreshing as a 96er to see the club targeting and acquiring a top quality player that signals they want to compete with the big spenders in the league. I’m sure Musa will improve the team but even if it isn’t as much as we expect the ambition statement is great to see.
Now i’m going to channel my inner Peter Welpton and rain on the parade a little. Dallas primary problem last year was not generally the quality of attacking options (at least when Ferreira was available). Instead it was the lack of quality service. This doesn’t seem to get the discussion which i think it deserves. Dallas finished 26th in the league in completed passes into the final third, 26th in the league in total touches in the final third, and 27th in the league in progressive passes. Simply put, Dallas was poor at advancing the ball through possession into dangerous attacking situations. Consequently, Dallas finished dead last in shots attempted.
The ability to play through the opposition starts at the back and Dallas has done nothing to improve its backline passing. Additionally, Dallas has not improved its midfield passing either, though the formation change and maybe a return to form for Lletget can improve it. So i see little reason to expect a significant boost in the attacking attempts. It doesn’t matter if Musa is the best striker Dallas has ever had – if no one can get him the ball, he’s not going to score. So, I think everyone should temper their expectations that the offense is going to improve a lot.
I think the primary idea is that Ferreira will get him the ball (at least now that he isn’t going to Russia. What would be the plan without Ferreira? Yikes
I’m also excited for Geovane Jesus (once he’s back) to have a target for his crosses. If they play three in the back more, I think that could help hide some of his defensive deficiencies and allow him to get forward and cross, which he’s so good at.