He still doesn’t have a permanent place to live yet, but the new Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell is ready to get to work.
Less than 18 hours after flying in from Europe, Borrell met with the media Monday at Q2 Stadium as part of his introduction as, essentially, El Tree’s general manager.
Filling the role left open when Claudio Reyna resigned in January, Borrell, who spent the last seven years as an assistant coach with Manchester City and has had stints in various roles with powerhouse clubs Liverpool and Barcelona, said he’s looking forward to being at Austin FC .
“I’m going to try and influence the group in a good way,” he said. “I’m going to try and take all my knowledge and expertise that I’ve gathered in 30 years and try to affect the club in all different departments.”
Borrell met Austin FC owner Anthony Precourt in 2019, and when Precourt flew to Manchester, England, in May to spend a few days with him, it set in motion the process that culminated in his hiring.
Outside of a short stint coaching in Greece where he led Iraklis, Borrell has spent his entire career in Spain’s La Liga or the English Premier League.
However, he’s kept up with MLS, so he expects the transition to a new league to be a smooth one.
“The fact I’ve been following the league for a long time, I don’t think I’ll be shocked by anything,” he said. “The biggest difference is there are such huge distances to travel when you’re on the road and such huge differences in schedules and temperatures. That affects the game, but at the end of the day it’s football and there are two goals at each end of the field.”
Borrell has done a little bit of everything in the soccer world.
From being the technical director at youth academies, coaching under-18, under-23 and reserve teams and being an assistant at one of the most high-profile clubs in the world, he’s seen the different levels and all facets of how clubs operate.
It’s something that drew him to the front office and not pursue being a head coach.
“I think at this moment in my career, there were two ways: keep going in the direction of becoming a head coach or taking on the sporting director position,” said Borrell, who noted that he recently turned down a couple of other sporting director opportunities. . “The sporting director allows me to influence the whole structure of a club much more than being a head coach. The fact that my background includes [so many roles], it gives me knowledge of the whole structure. Having been involved in all of that, it would be a pity not to try and help develop a whole structure.”
Another aspect Borrell found attractive about Austin is the fact that MLS has a soft salary cap, where clubs are mostly on the same level financially in terms of how much they can pay players.
It’s a stark difference from La Liga and the English Premier League, which are more similar to Major League Baseball, where there’s no salary cap and the bigger and wealthier clubs can have unlimited payrolls.
“That’s one of the things that excites me the most,” he said. “Because I think MLS, more than anywhere else, you still need to be developing players in a first-team environment. And this is my background. … With the salary restrictions, you don’t have a club like Manchester City who has everything. The fact that everyone is under the same rules and regulations is good.
Austin FC has compiled 10 points in its last four matches, rising to fifth place in the Western Conference as it battles for a playoff spot.
With the player transfer window open through Aug. 2, El Tree will be looking to add more players — especially at center back.
And although Precourt said Borrell will have more of an influence on player signings down the road, he’s looking forward to working with Austin FC coach Josh Wolff and vice president of player personnel Sean Rubio and the start of leaving his imprint on the club.
“I have to meet them and talk with them as they are aware of what’s going on,” he said. “But at the same time, I think we are quite happy with our current roster. We’ve been playing in a good way recently, getting momentum and hopefully we keep building on that.”
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Borrell introduced as Austin FC’s new sporting director Monday at Q2