TRANSFER TRACKER STATUS: Report
Major League Soccer’s newest arrivals are rapidly filling out their roster for next year’s expansion debut, and a new report suggests that they’ve found a starting-caliber fullback in France.
France Football claims that FC Cincinnati are signing right back Mathieu Deplagne from Ligue 2 side ESTAC Troyes to a three-year contract that will be announced next week.
League sources confirmed FCC’s intentions and that he is scheduled to come into market later this weekend. However, he has not signed yet. It could be completed during the trip.
Though his club are currently playing in the second tier, Deplagne, 27, carries ample Ligue 1 experience, having played for Montpellier HSC from 2010-17. He made over 100 appearances for that side during that time, including a role on the 2011-12 squad that surprised France by winning the Ligue 1 championship, paced by striker Olivier Giroud, now in England with Chelsea FC.
Deplagne joined Troyes last year when they were a freshly-promoted newcomer to Ligue 1, but he and his teammates could not keep them in the top flight as they were quickly relegated via a 19th-place finish last season. If signed, he would be the seventh specialist defender, and fourth fullback, on FCC’s fast-growing MLS roster.
