Nashville SC trade for winger Fafà Picault

NASHVILLE, TN – Nashville SC announced the acquisition of winger Fabrice Jean “Fafà” Picault from the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday. Nashville will sent $50,000 in 2023 GAM and $50,000 in 2024 GAM to Houston, plus an additional $150,000 in 2024 GAM if Picault meets certain performance-based metrics.

Picault, 31, spent the last two seasons with Houston. Prior, he came through the Cagliari youth academy before spending time with the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Ft. Lauderdale Strikers in the NASL. He then spent three seasons with Sparta Prague in the Czech Republic and FC St. Pauli in Germany before moving to MLS.

In stints with the Philadelphia Union (2015-2017), FC Dallas (2020) and Houston Dynamo (2021-2022), Picault has notched 43 goals and 23 assists in 173 matches, a solid return of 0.45 goals and assists per 96 minutes played.

Nashville have been interested in Picault for a while, nearly bringing him to Nashville in the summer transfer window.

Picault is a direct, pacey winger, who fits Nashville’s DNA to a “t”. He’s an adept dribbler, able to take players on 1v1 in a way that would make Steve Guppy proud, and a significantly more reliable goal threat than Nashville’s current wingers.

Per American Soccer Analysis‘s goals added above replacement model, Picault was the 10th-best winger in MLS in 2022, and he finished the season with seven goals and three assists. Spending $250k in GAM for a player with a high floor certainly isn’t bad business, and should be just the start of a busy offseason for Nashville SC.

Author: Ben Wrightis the Director of Soccer Content and a Senior MLS Contributor for Broadway Sports covering Nashville SC and the US National Team. Previously Ben was the editor and a founder of Speedway Soccer, where he has covered Nashville SC and their time in USL before journeying to Major League Soccer since 2018. Raised in Louisville, KY Ben grew up playing before a knee injury ended his competitive career. When he is not talking soccer he is probably producing music, drinking coffee or hanging out with his wife and kids. Mastodon

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