In less than a year we will witness the long-awaited arrival of Major League Soccer in San Diego: The San Diego FC.
The city's latest soccer project is in the works, and one of the most important arrivals is reportedly very close to being finalized, the team's first sporting director.
According to the popular and prestigious Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano (for those who don´t know him he is the Adrian Wojnarowski of soccer), Carlos Aviña is in the middle of negotiations with San Diego FC and the official announcement of his signing could come soon.
Get San Diego local news, weather forecasts, sports and lifestyle stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC San Diego newsletters.
Aviña will be responsible for building San Diego FC's roster, which will include a number of draft picks, up to 5 players selected from other MLS teams (no, Messi will not be on that list), and the signing of a few more players, including the possibility of some international stars, to complete the roster which, according to MLS rules, can be up to 30 players.
Aviña, 33 years old from Mexico, has an extensive resume despite his young age. He began his career as Director of Development at Club América in 2015, overseeing the progress and evolution of affiliate teams. His good performance led to his promotion in the entity and four years later he was named director of professional football and scout. Under his supervision, Club América won the 2018 Apertura, and his performance was essential in achieving the signing of very important players such as Paraguayan Richard Sánchez, Colombian Nicolás Benedetti, Álvaro Fidalgo and Federico Viñas. His role was also crucial in making million-dollar sales such as those of Edson Álvarez to Ajax for 15 million Euros or Mateus Uribe and Marchesín to Porto, which left a significant amount of money in the club's coffers.
After his time in Club América, Aviña made the leap to Europe as sporting director of the modest Cercle Brugge, a Belgian team that at the time was struggling to maintain its place in the first division. Aviña developed a very young team year after year, enhancing and maximizing the performance of players and systematically improving the club. Cercle Brugge became more prominent and gained strength. The team finished the season in eighth position and qualified for the playoffs to try to win a ticket to Europa League competition in 2023. They finished in second place.
His management was such a success in Belgium that it led to a call from AS Monaco. The Monegasque club and the Cercle Brugge are under the umbrella of the same owner, the Russian oligarch Dimitry Rybolovlev, and since 2017 they have had an agreement and collaboration for the transfer of players between the two sides. Managers are also part of this agreement and Aviña's success in Belgium caught the attention of the AS Monaco, which ended up hiring the Mexican as sporting director last summer. Their hope was to compete with Paris Saint Germain.
After making important signings such as Folarin Balogun for 30 million Euros from Arsenal and midfielder Dennis Zakaria from Juventus for 20 million Euros, AS Monaco has not been able to fulfill the great objective of battling Paris Saint Germain for the title. With 11 games left until the end of the season, the Monegasques are third, 13 points behind the Parisians.
Carlos Aviña's success in Europe has caught the attention of San Diego FC owners and if a deal is reached, it will be his first experience in MLS. Aviña would have a big task ahead of him. He would field the first team in club history in about 10 months time. As it stands SDFC has just three players committed for 2025.
