Anibal Chala will not be making his debut for FC Dallas anytime soon. The club announced today that he will be sent out on loan to L.D.U. Quito for the entirety of the 2017 season.

The young Ecuadorian dealt with a sports hernia earlier in the season, and has been nursing an abdominal strain for the last few weeks. This move to Ecuador could get him some minutes to get back into shape after a lengthy injury spell or maybe he wasn’t up to MLS standards yet. It’s unclear if Pareja sees a place for him on the team in the future. With Maynor Figueroa locking down left back and Roland Lamah, Tesho Akindele, and even Paxton Pomykal filling out the left midfield spot, competition is tight. This move could could give Chala some desperately needed minutes and free up a DP slot.

It’s disappointing to see one of Dallas’ offseason acquisitions not work out this season, especially a designated player, but this isn’t quite a kiss of death for his MLS career. He’s still 21 and Fernando Clavijo spoke highly of him when he was signed:

“We’ve been watching him for about a year and when you come up with a player like this, who has been with his youth national team and you have an opportunity to grab him, you grab him”

Clavijo’s commented on Chala again today:

“We expected a lot of things from him this year and then we found out in preseason that he had a sports hernia issue. He has not been able to rehab fully here. He still has a little bit of pain. With FC Dallas doing so well, and him being so young, we agreed the best thing for him would be to play. Back in Ecuador, it will be easier for him to recover and get back into games and come back here next year with his batteries charged.”

Do you think Chala has a future with the club? Or is this the beginning of the end?