🟠🇲🇽 Sources: Houston Dynamo finalizing deal to sign midfielder Hector Herrera. @CLMerlo 1st reported.Herrera won't be a DP for Houston.Herrera, 35, spent 2022-24 with the Dynamo then joined Toluca. Was named to 2023 MLS Best XI. pic.twitter.com/5fOXDEiBSB— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) January 9, 2026 This story is probably the 3rd most shocking Dynamo transfer story I can think of behind the first time we signed HH and when Ching got expansion drafted by Montreal (not necessarily in that order). I think it’s probably a net positive that he’s returning but if he’s willing to be here and not be a DP then his whole release seems pretty pointless no?
If he comes back to do a year or two as player/asst.coach, and integrates into the club for the long term as the teacher/architect of the Pachuca school of quick short-passing hi-possession offense then I like this move. The drop in quality of the Dynamo scheme last season was stark. If all that happens is HH takes McGlynn under his wing then its a win for me.
I can't help but ask in my head....what's really going on?? We canned a guy under secrecy and fog and then bring him back a year later? Why get rid of him to begin with if we were just gonna go after him again and bring him back? Are we losing money or making it? Maybe we get 1 good year out of him but is it realistic to expect 3 or more at his age? Is he gonna be happy to be at a place that has people in the org that let him go? Or is he the one that threw a fit, stormed out and now wants back? Was this some sort of weird tax dodge? lol I've always been puzzled at divorces and remarriages within a short time frame.
this 100% seems like short-term marketing chemic to bring back a name guy probably at a much reduced salary with limited term left in his career. These things almost never work out in professional sports. 2023 Herrera was great. 2024 Herrera didn’t look like he wanted to be here anymore.
The way it ended you would’ve thought every bridge was burned so this is definitely desperation on somebody’s part, most likely the club.
Pretty hard for us guys to know exactly how it all played out, but the following scenario (which I will get criticized for describing since its not negative) is just as likely as all the other narratives: 2024: HH contract expiring. Dynamo tell him what they can do in the way of a an extension. HH gets an offer significantly above that from Atlas. Makes sense that HH is more valuable to Atlas than the Dynamo given no salary cap, marketing value, etc. HH says ... "Hold my beer, I'll be back." 2025: HH: I'm back, lets go forward into my post-playing days. I think I can contribute another year on the field and long-term to this club.
A few things I disagree with here, first he went to Toluca not Atlas but that’s not super relevant. One part is the timeline. On 11/4/24 HH posts on his IG apologizing about the red card and talking about coming back better in 2025. https://www.instagram.com/p/DB9wnqJTe39/?img_index=3&igsh=MThzMTkzY3FienFieA== Two days later the Dynamo decline the option. The other thing is there’s nothing to indicate that he made more money in Mexico than in Houston. It’s hard to link here because the sites that talk about this have various paywalls, but as best I can gather from Google he was only making around $700k in Mexico. That being said I think your read on his motivations to return are likely correct.
My bad on getting the LMX team wrong. Just me not checking which team it was. All the same either way. On the timeline, and again, I'm not arguing this IS the story -- just that it COULD be: If he is negotiating with the Dynamo and Toluca and thinks he might still get the preferred option here in Houston, his IG post fits and is important. He might not know he will be back, but hopes it. Then, the Dynamo say "no DP, no $700k (or whatever) and he says "OK guys, I like it here but I'm gonna maximize money for my fam -- I hope you understand. I'm leaving the fam here because I would not mind hooking back up with guys in the future.) Also, we don't know what sort of marketing/endorsement deals came with a stint at Toluca. I am not arguing against anyone else's take. I do not claim anything. Only that there are 10,000 ways that it could have gone down. Another thing, he could have initially been pretty huffed at the Dynamo offer and spurred his departure -- but time reminded him how much he values having his family in Houston and so he came back knocking on Pat's door.
THis one is over the line .... done. https://www.houstondynamofc.com/new...rsfield-captain-agustin-bouzat-from-argentina
one reason you'd sign HH is to symbolically fend off complaints you're a cheapskate team signing a bunch of no-names.
they dwindled to 5 seed last year of the HH concept, and went out first playoff round. so they declined him. we're so incompetent FO without him it went right back to non-playoff. we can't even trust ourselves to do better so we're back to the well. that's the limits of the current aspirations. squeak in and see what happens. rather than fire the GM and spend some money, it's try and replicate '24. out of money and based on this, out of ideas. it's like when they brought back ching year after year even though he might be good for 5 goals and we were going out of the playoffs when the offense dried up each offseason.
the rumored guys so far, based on what i see, look like a back, a couple DMs, and a wing. to the extent they have offense it would be more tablesetting than scoring. sounds cute but the problem would be they have maybe one decent scorer to stick on the other end, the underperforming ponce, then mcglynn taking long pot shots, and that's about it. even before with bassi and dorsey and those type guys, it's a little too guys that send you on and not finishers. if they don't fix that, i think the tweaks reduce the GA but don't net a ton of GF, which is red line material. and that's setting aside trying to even compete with miami.
30, 31, and 35 are a bit old, short window with injury risk types. only the back is young enough to build around. assuming he's any good. if you're gonna sign veterans sign some damned names that can win us games, put butts in the seats, and make this relevant again. they never managed to get raines much past half a season on the field, so we come across like asset flippers that end of the age spectrum. i continue to not get what the personnel concept is. other than slap together a roster and see if we can squeak in. people chuckled for years at my sign YNT guys theory but look at SD. bunch of current and former U23s and U20s with some veterans around them. look at the people who have value when they leave here -- like coco and raines.
guys worth taking a run at houston's own cole campbell aribiyi bello EPB castenada che cohen dettoni dietz fossey green hoppe kelman koffi koleosho maloney michel miljevic payne polvara pukstas reyna sargent gaga slonina tolkin weah yow adeniran cannon moore blackmon eneli berhalter paredes
British soccer press has an article on our club's new signings both homegrown and foreign. MLS side signs South American trio within 24 hours as winter rebuild continues - The Mirror US
curious if some of you noticed the insane contract terms we took them on. the schedule is about to shift to a european season. young mr. halter's deal is through the end of the 29/30 season with an optional year beyond that (5 seasons). bouzat (31) and guilherme (30) are here through 27/28 with an option (3 seasons including the short one). only HH (35) is here through the short spring 27 season. reminds me of the 2017 defense in terms of taking on long obligations to veteran players who proved to have a short competitive window. it is also dangerous, to me, to handcuff yourself on personnel right when they change the competition. not a fan of bringing HH back, like we ran out of ideas and just desperately want mediocre seeding back, but his contract at least aligns with the calendar and competition change. if the stakes changed -- say, pro/rel came in, or conversely we got put in an easy division -- you could adjust accordingly. the others the risk is they are obligated past the changes, you're married to these south americans who either work out or not. to give an example, ponce, a semi-flop signed in '24, is under deal through mid-'27 with options beyond that. it's like we take the kinnear formula and do the exact opposite.
ponce is a 9, bogusz is a 10 or false 9. you're then giving up the most productive striker and accumulating supporting pieces and no striker to finish them. to be real, ditch him, ditch lingr, but some of this effort needs to go into finishing. and to me just 1 defender change isn't enough. new keeper(s) and backline's been a mess for years. a team trying to compete with miami and such needs some guys who can actually mark. and the keepers have been replacement level since roughly when deric flaked out.
if guilherme is a decent winger, and HH can still hit precise balls, what you need is a target guy, or a sniper/poacher. you don't need fancy dancing or any setup ability. you don't need a false 9 who wants to drop back and combine. you need a guy to sit in the middle of the box and head balls in or who's gifted at one-touch finishing with his feet. some point this organization needs to think about how one signing relates to another. that's been absent since manotas/quioto/elis fast break ball. and even then they had another expensive striker (torres) who didn't fit what the others were trying to do, and would be a mile behind the play.
Fabrizio Romano on twitter today says the Dynamo are upping their bid for Mateuz Bogusz. 🚨🇺🇸 Excl: Houston send new bid to Cruz Azul for Mateusz Bogusz as clubs are getting closer with a 10M$ valuation.Deal advancing. 🇵🇱 pic.twitter.com/wmGpkDBFS1— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 14, 2026 Here is what I like about this: They are competing to sign a guy -- not just picking someone no one else wants. That is a step in the right direction. Will Bogusz work out? I dunno -- I liked him at LAFC. I'm looking forward to finding out how he does. I liked how hard he played. Easier to look good playing next to Bouanga and the overall level LAFC puts out each game.
Overall, so far, we have sold away our biggest potential young star in Raines, then added some some SA veterans including a guy with decent goal production from Santos of Brazil -- Guilherme. We have an attack now of Ponce, Guilherme, Ennali. We have HH bringing vibes, leadership, and limited minutes. MF is chock full of defensive mids plus Lingr, Bogusz and kid McGlynn, Bassi .... Defense has Dorsey, Eric and a couple new vets, our hard playing Argentine Two kids are coming up from Dynamo 2. Overall -- I'm not claiming I think this will work, or not work. But it is a swing. They are trying something. I'm down for that. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works. There has definitely been some real effort put into the offense.
And here incoming is another striker from USL. 🇺🇸 Sources: Houston Dynamo agree deal to sign forward Nick Markanich from CD Castellón. @vicenteperis__ 1stDeal is a loan w/ purchase optionMarkanich, 26, set USL Championship single-season record for goals with Charleston Battery. Brother of MNUFC's Anthony Markanich pic.twitter.com/xPS73ovQkt— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) January 14, 2026
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sp...ueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter Interesting article, apparently HH reached out to the Dynamo during the middle of last season to see if it would be possible for him to come back