Nashville SC have traded forward Daniel Ríos to Charlotte FC for $350,000 in General Allocation Money, according to a report MLSSoccer.com‘s Tom Bogert and confirmed by Broadway Sports Media. The total fee includes an additional $150,000 in incentives should Ríos hit certain performance-based metrics.
Ríos, 27, was Nashville’s first MLS signing. He joined the team ahead of the 2019 USL Championship season, where he scored 21 goals, becoming the first USL player to score at least 20 goals in consecutive season.
Ríos’s time with Nashville at the MLS level was hampered by injuries. The striker managed just under 900 minutes in two seasons, but scored six goals, including a dramatic extra-time winner over Toronto FC in the 2020 playoffs.
In Charlotte, Ríos should get the chance to play starting minutes, something he wouldn’t find in a crowded Nashville SC striker corps. In a Charlotte side without a proven option up front, Ríos will see the field more than he would in Nashville, and may finally fulfill the potential Nashville saw in him years ago.
There’s a world in which Nashville regret letting Ríos go, though. C.J. Sapong has never scored double digit goals in back-to-back years, and Teal Bunbury has never excelled as a target striker. Ríos was a low-budget option who could do a job for Nashville, and if healthy could develop into more. Ultimately, lack of consistent availability made him expendable.
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