As people try to figure out why FC Dallas hasn't won a single league championship in its 20-year history, the chief question has been whether it's been for lack of investment or lack of vision.

When Dallas was left out of the playoffs in the last 2017 MLS regular season date, coach rattled out a number of reasons for their elimination, including lack of talent and an insufficient budget.

"By failing to classify for the playoffs, it gives you fodder to think there are some things missing. It could be technique, it could be method, players, investment. It could be many things, and it helps us reevaluate," Oscar Pareja said in his last press conference October 22 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco.

That was the first time Dallas didn't reach the playoffs since Pareja took over as head coach in 2014.

Under the lead of the Colombian-born strategist, Dallas won the US Open Cup and the Supporters' Shield in 2016.

For Jorge "Zarco" Rodríguez, former Dallas Burn standout and once head coach of the El Salvador National Team, FC Dallas' management hasn't been sufficiently supportive of Pareja.

"They should give some consideration to the resources they give their technical staff," said Rodríguez during a phone interview from El Salvador last October.

Rodríguez, who was part of the Dallas Burn team that won the US Open Cup in 1997, led club Alianza to an undefeated victory in the El Salvadoran national tournament last week. It was Rodríguez's fourth title in his native country's league after winning three championships at the helm of Isidro Metapán.

"Hopefully, in the coming years the team can get stronger and its owners are willing to invest a little more so FC Dallas can be become more competitive than it currently is," "Zarco" said.

Limited budget

In 2017, Dallas was number 17 of 22 among franchises investing in their rosters, spending close to $5.7 million in base salaries, according to an MLS Players Association report last April.

Toronto spent the most, with $20.1 million in salaries - They won the championship less than three weeks ago.

Pablo Ricchetti knows what working under a limited budget means, but he thinks it all comes down to using the funds wisely.

With a $5.5 million budget for 2016, Ricchetti was part of the coaching staff lead by Jorge Almirón who took Lanús to the Copa Libertadores final game in November after winning the Argentine league the previous year.

"Lanús' edge is it goes out to seek out (players) where others don't go. That's the fundamental difference", Ricchetti said during an interview last month in Buenos Aires.

Pablo Ricchetti, when he was interviewed in Buenos Aires on November 15th. Picture by Emmanuel Quispe/Special Contributor

Ricchetti played 70 games for FC Dallas between 2007-2009, and eventually became the captain of the Texan team.

"I think FC Dallas has to get more creative in bringing in people. In terms of hiring, it tends to miss the mark. You can't afford spending that much money in underachieving players", said Ricchetti, who this week was named a bench member of Colombia's Atlético Nacional, the Copa Libertadores 2016 champion.

Shaky reinforcements

Among Dallas' international hires for last season, Anibal Chalá from Ecuador and Paraguay's Cristian Colmán stand out.

Defender Chalá developed a hernia even before the start of the season and never played for Dallas.

In May, he was lent to Liga Deportiva de Quito. His base salary is $250,000.

Forward Colmán was a starter in 10 of 34 games this season. He scored two goals in 959 minutes on the field. He has a base salary of $300,000.

The FC Dallas President admitted Colmán didn't perform as expected.

"International players struggle," Dan Hunt said in a phone interview on December 3.

"For Cristian, adapting maybe took a bit longer for him," Hunt said. "We'd have hoped he would have adapted faster, but he will have plenty of time next year."

Hunt denied investment is the problem.

"We're spending in Dallas in a competitive range with anybody who is spending big money," he said.

"My brother (Clark Hunt, FC Dallas Chairman and CEO) and I are committed to continue to spend and to make sure we can put the best team on the field," Hunt said.

Ricchetti insisted it's not a matter of spending lots of money, but of hiring players when they are still affordable -- before they become top-flight stars.

The former player from Argentina said he tried to warn FC Dallas about it many years ago but he said he was ignored.

The list

Ricchetti said that in 2014, when he was hired as a collaborator to Pareja's coaching staff, he gave the team a list of 50-plus international players who would have been a bang-for-the-buck investment for Dallas.

He said he made the list with José María "Josema" Bazán, a field assistant to Pareja.

"Making that list wasn't our job. It was the technical director's job. But we did it because we wanted a better team", Ricchetti said.

That list, he recalled, included names like Venezuelan Rómulo Otero (currently an Atlético Mineiro midfielder and member of Venezuela's national team), Colombian Daniel Torres (a defender at Spain's Alavés), and Argentine players Marcelo Meli (midfielder at Argentina's Racing) and Leandro González Pírez (a defender for Atlanta United).

But the most prominent name from the list was Lucas Alario.

The Argentine forward was playing for Colón de Santa Fe of the local league in 2014.

Later, River Plate enlisted Alario, and then the club sold him to Bayer Leverkusen of Germany this summer for over $21 million, according to Transfermarkt.co.uk.

"We told them to get Alario for $1 million ahead of River Plate, but the FC Dallas administration didn't sign off on the deal", Ricchetti recalled.

Bazán confirmed Ricchetti's version. Bazán, who has been Pareja's assistant since 2014, said they created that list "and many more".

"There are no misteries in soccer, and even less nowadays; the players we want are also persued by other teams," Bazán said Thursday on a phone interview, "Now, do we create lists? Yes, of course we do! But not just that one, we did many lists, it is part of our job."

Fernando Clavijo, FC Dallas Technical Director, responsible for recruiting talent for the team, refused to talk to Al Dia about this.

On December 7, Gina Miller, FC Dallas Vice President of Media, emailed Al Día an official statement saying "Pablo Ricchetti was a talented player for FC Dallas. Neither Fernando Clavijo, nor Oscar Pareja, nor Dan Hunt have any knowledge of a list of players Pablo presented to the club."

However, the team's President didn't rule out the list was "filtered", so it didn't reach him.

"You know, I asked if we have had a list and nobody seems to know anything or having any recollection about that list," Hunt said.

"I'm not saying that there wasn't a list, and I don't know if it was maybe filtered out."

Hunt considered that, beyond that list, it would have been difficult for the club to sign many of those players because of the league's strict rules on salary cap.

FC Dallas' budget is different from those of other teams like Atlanta United, who made high-profile additions for its inaugural MLS season, including Paraguayan midfielder Miguel Almirón, from Lanús.

"FC Dallas just can't hire someone for $13 million like Atlanta," Ricchetti agreed. "But it could have bought Almirón in Paraguay three years ago if they would have gotten a feel of the market and paid attention, as Lanús did."

Lanús retained 80% of the $8.5 million transfer value, according to figures provided by Luis Chebel, the club's Vice President, to Argentine newspaper La Nación.

Improving scouting

FC Dallas' strategy for talent acquisition has improved this year, Hunt said.

He said the team has upped its scouting budget, they have traveled to new parts of the world watching players and hired two more people to search for talent.

Jesús "Chuy" Vera is one of the people hired. Since September, Vera is the Director for International Scouting for FC Dallas.

Vera is a former Venezuelan National Team player and former coach for several teams in the First Division League of his home country.

"Basically, we observed players from leagues all over the world, and we do evaluations position by position, and then we create a report," Vera said on Thursday.

"In the first evaluation, we put the names of up to 25 players per position and then we filtered it up to eight or nine players per position. That is when we give the report to the coaching staff," Vera explained of the way he has been working for the past three months.

Hunt and Vera said that the search for talent has been extended to South America, Central America and Europa.

"Our (scouting) process is the best it has ever been this year," Hunt said. "Giving where we are right now with resources and people, I feel that the process it's by far the most thoughtful that has ever been and hopefully we will have some signings coming up very quickly."