Andre Shinyashiki announced himself to the Charlotte FC faithful Saturday afternoon, scoring the 68th-minute winner in a 1-0 victory over Inter Miami CF shortly after subbing on.
It was the forward’s debut with the expansion club after a trade earlier this week from the Colorado Rapids, which could see up to $400,000 in General Allocation Money head to the team that drafted the 2019 MLS Rookie of the Year.
The dream moment had been a long time coming, Shinyashiki said, as he chases a bigger role under manager Miguel Angel Ramirez.
“I’ve been trying to come to Charlotte for a while,” the 24-year-old said postgame. “Even in preseason I know that they tried to get me and Miguel was very interested. He even showed me on his iPad, something that said Andre Shinyashiki, one of our targets. But unfortunately it’s not always easy to leave a club.
“In Colorado, I had very good moments and I had reasons to stay there too. But ultimately there was the idea of how Miguel plays and what he wants for me personally. That made a huge difference in me coming to Charlotte instead of a few other options I had.”
Shinyashiki’s goal came on a sliding effort off Yordy Reyna’s cross, sending the Queen City side to their fourth straight win at Bank of America Stadium. Ramirez hopes the Brazilian forward has plenty more ahead in this new venture.
“I’m happy for him today because he was disappointed and he wanted something new in his career,” Ramirez said. “He chose Charlotte before other big and good options in MLS, so I really appreciate this movement from him and I’m happy. Hopefully it’s just the beginning.”
Shinyashiki joins a deep forward corps in Charlotte, becoming their second midseason trade target after acquiring Daniel Rios from Nashville SC. Polish internationals Kamil Jozwiak and Karol Swiderski are gelling as Designated Players, while U22 Initiative signings Vinicius Mello and Kerwin Vargas await their debuts.
Perhaps their collective efforts, especially now with Shinyashiki, could inspire an Audi MLS Cup Playoff berth in this inaugural campaign?
“Everybody can dream. Why not?,” Shinyashiki posed. “That’s what I always said in Colorado; nobody believed we were going to win the West last year, literally nobody. Then we end up winning it, so why not. If you do the work every day, that should give you confidence going into the weekend that you’re going to get points.”
