Mexican star Fabian a landmark signing for Union
CHESTER >> Ernst Tanner labeled Friday a great day for the Philadelphia Union as it announced the signing of Mexican attacking midfielder Marco Fabian.
More definitive is the assessment of someone who’s been around Chester slightly longer.
“I think it’s the most ambitious signing we’ve had,” manager Jim Curtin said. “I can say that.”
The Union completed the transfer of Fabian from German club Eintracht Frankfurt Friday, adding one of the most accomplished players in club history.
Fabian, 29, joins on an initial one-year contract with two club options. He’ll occupy a designated player spot, and while Tanner did not specify the salary figure, he did indicate it to be a club record for the Union, which places it north of the $1.7 million earned by Borek Dockal last season.
The Union did not pay a transfer fee to Eintracht, whose control of Fabian was set to expire in June, but the club retains a 5 percent stake in Fabian’s future transfers. For a player that featured just eight times in the last season and a half, Frankfurt’s ability to clear him off the books early constitutes what Tanner characterized as a “win-win”.
“We are very happy to announce that we could sign our missing piece in Marco Fabian,” Tanner said via conference call. “We are even more happy that we can get a real high potential for that position that proved himself in the German Bundesliga over the last couple of years and before in Mexico and was one of the key players in the national team and took part in two World Cups. It’s really a great day for the Union, a great day for all of us and I think we’re going to have a lot of fun with him.”
“I know this league has come higher in the last years and I think step for step it goes to a higher level and a lot of good players, they come to play here,” Fabian told the Daily Times. “This is why I think it’s right. … I’m 29 and I’m ready for the next years here.”
Fabian endured a rough 18 months in Germany. He was a sensation in his first season after transferring from Mexico’s Chivas de Guadalajara for a reported fee of 3.7 million Euros in the summer of 2016, making 24 appearances and scoring seven goals and four assists.
Fabian last appeared for Frankfurt in a Sept. 14 match with Borussia Dortmund. He was left off the team’s squad for the UEFA Europa League and has played just eight Bundesliga games since the start of 2017-18 season due to a lumbar vertebra issues. Lingering physical concerns reportedly scuppered a move to Turkish club Fenerbache in August, though Curtin decried many of the details in the reporting around the deal as inaccurate.
In any case, both Curtin and Tanner are confident with the diligence done into Fabian’s health.
“One-hundred percent yeah,” Fabian said. “One year ago was my surgery, and I feel good and had nothing wrong since.”
“It’s not that difficult for me to find out what really happened and what condition he has,” Tanner said. “It’s just a few calls to people that I know very well and that are around him and they give me the information, so that’s not a big deal. We also got a confirmation from the physiotherapist from his training record there. … He’s fit. He can play. He can start with us in the second phase of preseason, so that is not a real big question.”
Fabian has earned 42 caps for the Mexican national team, part of the roster for the 2014 and 2018 World Cups. He also led El Tri to the 2012 Olympic gold medal. He’s played in Philadelphia before, taking part in a friendly at Talen Energy Stadium in 2010 with Chivas and at Lincoln Financial Field with Mexico for the 2015 Gold Cup final (against Jamaica and new Union teammate Andre Blake).
With the health issues in the past, Fabian is ready is to make up for lost time. He’s still in his prime and eager to be part of the project with the Union.
“My first and second years were really great in Germany, I got the most minutes in games that I had in Germany,” he said. “And then yeah, everybody knows about my injury, and they happen to all players. But after my injury, I feel so good. I prepared for the World Cup and I could go to the World Cup. I played in Russia, and after Russia, I played some games with Eintracht, and for another while, I didn’t have a lot of minutes on the pitch. But sometimes it’s like that.”
With Fabian in the fold, the Union have filled their two largest vacancies this week, along with 21-year-old left back Kai Wagner. Tanner is content with entering the season with 26 players on the roster, prizing the flexibility to add high achievers with Bethlehem Steel and the Union Academy. They certainly have the most talented roster they’ve had.
“He’s a veteran presence,” owner Jay Sugarman said of Fabian. “Unbelievable character that’s going to help elevate all the other players around him, and we’ve got a really great collection of players that now just has to absorb where we’re going and execute on it. I’m super excited because I see the vision that Ernst has laid out. I see the pieces he said he needed. … He’s checked all the boxes that he set up when the offseason began, and our goal is to give him the resources to succeed.”
While the Union haven’t had tactical conversations yet with Fabian, some elements are obvious. Fabian fits the bill for his versatility. While he enters as the nominal replacement for Dockal as the No. 10, he can play centrally or on either wing. It’s likely that under Tanner’s tactical influence, the Union will deploy different systems this season and ask Fabian to play with different personnel.
He’s ready for those challenges.
“I was just waiting for my time and I know now I can enjoy my moment,” he said, “and I can transmit my best, my experience and help for this team.”