Our first signing of 2026 is a Leo who played on Inter Miami. Khano Smith what are you cooking?

Going into the offseason there were a few glaring opportunities to upgrade the squad, many of which were covered in my RIFC New Year Resolutions post. If you watched The Tide at all last season, you’ll know that offense was, to put it lightly, a weakness.

To quote myself (what an asshole):

In 2025, The Tide took a massive step back in their offensive efforts, scoring the second least amount of goals in the league. And this wasn’t some sort of fluke, the team generated the third worst Expected Goals and the second worst Big Chances Created.

On top of that, the only offseason transaction so far was sending Maxi Rodriguez back to Detroit. While the 2024 First-Team All League player didn’t necessarily have the impact we had all hoped for, his 7 goal contributions were fourth on the team.

Enter, Leo Afonso – a 24 year old attacker who has played across the front three in his career.

After moving to the United States at a young age, Afonso started his career playing in academies across Florida and Philadelphia. He took his talents to the University of Virginia netting 22 goals in 59 appearances for the Cavaliers.

Showing promise in the collegiate ranks, Afonso was selected by Inter Miami in the 2024 MLS Super Draft and subsequently signed to the Inter Miami II team for his rookie season where he scored seven goals in nine appearances . After only getting the occasional time with the top level team where he scored two goals, Afonso was traded to Atlanta United where he only made six total appearances across their MLS and MLS Next Pro Squads.

So what can we expect from the Brazilian attacker?

While never breaking through, he has shown a consistency to score wherever he goes. A calm finisher based on the 4 videos I have watched, he looks to cut in from the left onto his stronger right foot and find a smart finish beyond the keeper.

His 1.11 goals per 90 in the 2024 MLS Next Pro season were in the 97th percentile. This checks out as he averaged a whopping 4.42 shots per 90 and 2.37 shots on target per 90 – both in the 95%+ percentile. This ability to not only get shots off but get them on target would be a welcome addition – JJ Williams, for example, only averages 1.11 shots on target per 90 (around 30% SoT rate).

Being a Khano Smith signing, it’ll be no surprise that he also holds his own on the defensive end averaging 2.37 tackles per 90 and 1.89 fouls committed. His ability to close ground with his long strides and put the effort in on the defensive end should revitalize a press that regressed slightly last season.

All in all, while he has a strong pedigree, he hasn’t played consistently over his tenure in MLS and MLS Next Pro. I’m personally very excited to see how he adapts to a new team, league and, hopefully, more minutes.

Bem-vindo, Leo!