CINCINNATI — Midfielder Álvaro Barreal will once again be loaned to a Brazilian team for the entire season, FC Cincinnati announced on Thursday.
Barreal will spend the 2025 season through December playing for Santos FC, a Brazilian Série A club.
Barreal spent the 2024 season on loan with Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, a different Brazilian club owned by soccer legend Ronaldo.
Sources told WCPO in 2024 that Cruzeiro would have a purchase option for Barreal worth around $4 million. Then, in December, before Barreal returned from Cruzeiro FC Cincinnati announced it would exercise the winger's option.
This new deal could mark Barreal's exit from FC Cincinnati.
The loan deal includes a purchase obligation for Santos FC, meaning they must purchase Barreal from FC Cincinnati "if certain performance metrics are met," reads the announcement.
FC Cincinnati did not say what those performance metrics may be, nor did they release how much Santos FC would be paying FC Cincinnati to keep Barreal.
The Orange and Blue have signed Barreal to an extension through the 2026 MLS season, so if those performance metrics are not met, Barreal will return to Cincinnati. Whether he would play in 2026 for FC Cincy remains unclear.
Barreal has been an FC Cincinnati player since 2020. Since then, he's made 121 appearances for FC Cincinnati, scoring a total of 19 goals — including two scored in Cincinnati's first match of the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs.
In 2023, he was also named to the MLS All-Star Game alongside Luciano Acosta and Matt Miazga.
