FC Cincinnati's Danni König hopes forward position battle with Fanendo Adi is 'fair'

Charlie Hatch | chatch@enquirer.com

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Fanendo Adi is expected to play Saturday night against Nashville SC, Futbol Club Cincinnati head coach Alan Koch said Thursday morning. The forward's debut will be the first time the club's Major League Soccer Designated Player will appear for the current United Soccer League leaders.

Koch said it's "huge." It could also be a huge change for other players, too.

Danni König has been FC Cincinnati's first-choice forward this season and has nine goals in 19 USL games. His 20 goals are a franchise record. But that doesn't excuse him from potentially being replaced by Adi on Saturday and in coming weeks or months.

"I don't know if I really have a comment on that," König said Thursday. "It's kinda a special situation. He's a designated player, so I haven't been a part of that. I don't know if it's a competition or not, but I hope it is. I hope it's fair and I'll do everything I can to play as much as I can."

With Adi's arrival from Portland Timbers on Monday, Cincinnati has four forwards on its roster. Adi and König make up half, while Emery Welshman and Tomi Ameobi are the other options.

König isn't the only one with a potential reduction in minutes, of course. Welshman's in a similar situation and currently sits on the outside looking in.

Though he's played one more match than König, Welshman has nine starts (König has 12) and still has a two-match suspension in effect since a USL disciplinary decision following the club's win over Charlotte Independence on July 18. He's not eligible to play again until Aug. 18 against Charleston Battery at Nippert Stadium.

More: Fanendo Adi to make his FC Cincinnati debut Saturday against Nashville at Nippert Stadium

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Midseason additions

König knows what it's like to join a team in the middle of a season. After all, he did the same last year for Cincinnati.

After Djiby Fall and Andy Craven picked up suspensions, Craven was traded for König, who came in and finished the season with 11 goals.

"If Djiby didn’t have a suspension, maybe I’d have to get 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there," König said. "But I came straight into it. I scored some goals in the beginning. It depends on the situation, but it’s definitely tougher than coming in the first day of preseason."

When FC Cincinnati needed König to excel, he did. Now the question is if Adi will come in and do the same. While he's joining the first-place team in USL, Adi is the club's biggest player, despite not featuring in a game yet.

It can be difficult because there’s a lot of factors," König said of a midseason move. "You’re moving, new teammates, new coach, new everything. But it can can go both ways. Most of the time, if they can get a good start, it helps a lot. I got a good start and that kept me going and getting into it faster. But it also depends on the situation.