Frankie Amaya is back with FC Cincinnati after training with the United States under-23 national team in Mexico and missing the final cut for Olympic qualification.
But how much longer will Amaya, who reportedly requested a trade in the offseason, be with Cincinnati?
Head coach Jaap Stam was asked about the 20-year-old midfielder’s situation in a video conference call with reporters.
Stam confirmed Amaya is training with the club in Florida, but said he’s not fully fit, which will preclude his involvement in preseason matches. FC Cincinnati said in a statement released in February the club had no interest in trading Amaya.
“The thing is I need to work with the players who are available, Frankie’s one of them over here and he's been training with us, but what's going to happen with him in the future I don’t know,” Stam said. “The only thing is, which is very important for me and my coaching staff and the players that have already been training before he came, is we need to have everybody sharp and we need to have a good mindset, the right mindset to go forward. That’s the most important thing for us.”
Stam said questions about Amaya’s future with FC Cincinnati are better asked of Amaya and Gerard Nijkamp, the club’s general manager.
“We're not going to be paying too much attention to maybe what is going to happen, I don’t know to be honest,” Stam said. “That’s a question for Gerard probably and Frankie himself.”
Amaya, who signed a Generation Adidas contract with FC Cincinnati, which selected him No 1 overall in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft, has started 36 of the 40 matches he’s appeared in over the course of two MLS regular seasons.
