Sebastian Lletget only joined FC Dallas in August, but he has made an immediate difference on the pitch. In the most recent victory, a tough road game against Minnesota United FC that Dallas won 3-0, Lletget earned two assists, setting up Alan Velasco and Jesus Ferreira for scores only minutes apart. As a result of his performance, Lletget has been named to the Major League Soccer (MLS) Team of the Week for Week 29.
He is the sixth member of the FC Dallas squad to earn the honor this season. In all, FC Dallas players have been named to the Team of the Week 14 times, including Week 29 which also saw Velasco named to the bench. It is the fourth time Velasco has made the honorary team and the second that he has been a bench player.
Lletget joined Dallas on August 3 in a deal that reportedly gave the New England Revolution $300,000 in 2022 and an additional $300,000 in 2023. The funds come from allocation money, a unique way for teams to reduce salary cap concerns. Teams are awarded allocation money for a variety of reasons through MLS.
In six games with Dallas, Lletget has five assists and has been involved in numerous pushes into the final third that have helped FC Dallas maintain an outstanding home record. The team has not lost at Toyota Stadium since mid-July and has an overall 8-4-3 record at home while earning 28 points.
“On the game side, he’s evolving and understanding what we want from him in that position (midfield),” head coach Nico Estevez said following the victory over Minnesota. “He already had some knowledge of it, but there were little things in his positioning and height and what he was doing that he’s improving every week. You can see it today, when we talk about Lletget in the last third he has quality. He can produce assists and arrive in the box. He showed today a couple (sic) really good actions besides the assists where he put his teammates in position to score,” Estevez said.
Lletget started his career with the LA Galaxy in 2015 and remained with the team through 2021 when he was traded to the New England Revolution. His time in the Northeast was short as he appeared in only 19 matches. New England said in a press release at the time that the opportunity had presented itself and the team wished Lletget success without hinting at any type of discord between the midfielder and the team.
All season, Lletget has been focused on winning with his team while making a play at a return to U.S. Men’s National Team competition. Lletget has appeared most recently in the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup for the U.S. and in qualifier matches for the FIFA World Cup 2022. He hopes to be called up to participate in two friendlies which will take place September 23 and 27 in the hope of being named to the national team when the World Cup competition begins in November.
“I know being here [in Dallas] gives me the best possibility. That’s for sure,” Lletget told The Striker, a soccer news app. “So, I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing, feet on the ground and game by game show what I can do and I think everything else will take care of itself.”
