Photo courtesy Philadelphia Union
Philadelphia Union signed striker Bruno Damiani from Uruguayan side Nacional on Tuesday morning.
Damiani, 22, commanded a club-record transfer fee, reported by the Inquirer‘s Jonathan Tannenwald as $3.4 million.
“Bruno is the exact type of player that we have been looking to add to our striker unit,” Union sporting director Ernst Tanner said in a press release. He described Damiani as “a tall, physical striker with a proven ability to dominate,” as well as “a clinical finisher [who] is relentless on the attack.”
After making his debut with Nacional in 2023, Damiani burst onto the scene in 2024 while on loan at Boston River, where he scored 12 goals and five assists in 38 matches. He also helped Nacional win the Supercopa Uruguaya last month.
Damiani has two senior caps for Uruguay’s national team, both coming in 2024 as part of a squad consisting solely of domestic players.
The move gives new Union manager Bradley Carnell three senior options to use in the final third, with Damiani joining veterans Mikael Uhre and Tai Baribo. (You could think of Damiani as filling the slot in the squad formerly occupied by Julian Carranza, who sent Feyenoord past AC Milan and into the Champions League Round of 16 with a brilliant headed goal earlier today.)
“For me, the field is now level, it’s open, and there’s places and spots to be had,” said Carnell in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
Damiani appears to be the final piece of an eventful Union offseason. The club signed Serbian midfielder Jovan Lukic, brought in Argentinian defender Ian Glavinovich on loan, and promoted Homegrowns Eddy Davis III, Frankie Westfield, and Neil Pierre to first-team contracts.
The new players fill slots in a roster that’s seen major churn over the last year, with this offseason’s departures including longtime defender Jack Elliott (to Chicago Fire), midfielder Jack McGlynn (to Houston Dynamo), and midfielder Leon Flach (to Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok).
Damiani will wear No. 20 for the Union, with midfielder Jesus Bueno sliding to No. 8.
The Union’s season kicks off this Saturday night away to Orlando City, with kickoff from Inter&Co Stadium scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The home opener is one week later against FC Cincinnati, another 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Subaru Park.
I’m not exactly excited, but certainly willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and see what he brings to the pitch.
All of the club communications highlighting the record breaking transfer fee are amusing and almost insulting. I get that you see the fan base on social media excoriating the lack of spending and commitment and that is likely being reflected in season ticket renewals. However, this is hardly a huge transfer and certainly not a game changer for the franchise. It’s more of the same.
I hope he kills it and bags a lot of goals. It’ll be nice to have three reasonable options up top.
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The record transfer fee nonsense is something else. Tough to not laugh at it.
Excited to see what Damiani can do. Scoring goals was not a problem last year, it was the lapses on defense and in goal that sunk the team. Blake being healthy is huge, and I feel a bit better about Rick being the #2 entering this year… BUT… our CB situation appears quite dicey to me. Pleased with the forwards and midfielders at least.
Notice that MLS.com doesn’t even report the Union signings anymore?
It’s on the front page under Transfer tracker…..
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With 30 teams now, it’s increasingly difficult for each team to stand out.
Thx
In terms of the “Record Transfer” hype. The social media post showing that the combined total spend on transfer fees by the Union doesn’t make it to #1 or #2 I believe in the list of MLS record incoming transfer fee’s.
Will his work visa come at the same pace as Uhre’s or Messi’s ???
That was a nail biter for Feyenoord! Milan was dominating until the red card. Carranza played well with hold up play after the goal too. I really enjoyed going to see him play at De Kuip. He should get more minutes with Gimenez gone and other injuries.
Hype aside at least the Union is spending on players not just the WSFS complex and luxury seats! Excited for the season to start.