FC Dallas made its first signing of the offseason, announcing the signing of former LAFC center back Sebastien Ibeagha on Monday afternoon.
The deal will keep the defender at the club for two years with club options for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. The Striker reported the news earlier Monday.
The 30-year-old defender is an MLS veteran, having played with New York City FC before changing coasts in a 2021 trade. He was a depth option for LAFC in its 2022 MLS Cup-winning run, starting 13 matches and making 19 appearances overall.
Welcome Seb!
— FC Dallas (@FCDallas) December 5, 2022
We have signed defender and 2022 MLS Cup Champion Sebastien Ibeagha as a free agent to a two-year contract with club options for the 2025 and 2026 seasons.
But LAFC manager Steve Cherundolo was happy to lean on Ibeagha when needed, with Ibeagha starting the MLS Cup final and playing all of the extra-time match in place of an injured Eddie Segura.
Born in Nigeria, Ibeagha grew up in the Houston area and developed in the Houston Dynamo academy system. But despite being on the team’s roster in 2016, he went out on loan to teams in the USL and NASL, never making a first-team appearance for the Dynamo.
Before returning to the team where he’d developed, Ibeagha played in Denmark, moving to Horsens after he headed to Duke and played college soccer after graduating from the Dynamo academy.
He now boasts a decade-long professional career, including five full seasons in MLS that FCD believes will make him an asset to a back line that was among the league’s best last season but often saw its depth tested.
In FCD’s labored 2021 campaign, there was no player on the roster who had suited up for another MLS team in his career. But when manager Nico Estévez took over before the 2022 season, he put a priority on players with a track record of success in the league. FCD traded for left back Marco Farfan and winger Paul Arriola, each of whom had career-best years in 2022, and also made a midseason move for midfielder Sebastian Lletget, who signed a new deal with FCD last month keeping him with the club through 2026.
Adding a veteran center back will raise questions about whether or not the club has any plans to re-sign Matt Hedges. The 32-year-old is currently a free agent and has visited other MLS teams during the offseason, including FC Cincinnati and Toronto FC. But sources indicate that even with the addition of Ibeagha, the club still is open to bringing back Hedges if the right deal can be reached.
The club is expected to announce the move later this week and will be making more transactions as the offseason picks up steam with the World Cup drawing to a close on Dec. 18. Just days later, on Dec. 21, the MLS SuperDraft will take place with preseason beginning early in 2023.
The Dallas Morning News partners with The Striker Texas to bring coverage of FC Dallas and other notable Texas soccer stories to dallasnews.com. Find more soccer coverage at thestrikertexas.com.
Find more FC Dallas coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
