FcSteaua.info

FC Dallas General Manager Michael Hitchcock announced Friday that midfielder Juan Toja has been transferred to Romanian club FC Steaua Bucuresti for an undisclosed amount.

“We wish Juan all the best in Europe and thank him for his contribution to FC Dallas, on and off the field,” said Hitchcock. “Juan is a special player who will have success wherever he plays. That said we’re confident that we have a number of good young players who are ready to step up and fill the shoes that Juan is leaving.”

Born in Colombia, Toja joined FC Dallas from Argentine-club River Plate in February 2007. In his first year with FCD, he scored six goals in 27 regular season games while playing three different positions, and was voted the team’s Most Valuable Player. In 16 games this year, he scored twice and added two assists. He was also selected to both the 2007 and 2008 MLS All-Star games, starting both games and scoring once in the MLS All-Stars 2-0 win over Celtic FC last year.

“I want to thank FC Dallas for giving me the opportunity to play here, and giving me the opportunity to live my dream of playing in Europe,” said Juan Toja. “I am very excited for this opportunity. I want to thank my teammates, and wish them nothing but the best for this year and beyond. I also want to thank all the fans for all of their support.”

Steaua has been drawn to play Turkey’s Galatasaray in the third qualifying round of the 2008/2009 UEFA Champion’s League, with the first leg on August 12 -13 and the second on August 26-27.

FC Dallas will receive two-thirds of the transfer fee which may be use for development of the on-field product; a portion of which can be used as allocation money, and the rest for improvements to the first team or youth programs. Source: http://fc.dallas.mlsnet.com/t104/