RIFC have made their fourth addition to the squad for 2026. Midfielder Agustin “Pity” Rodriguez has been brought in on loan from Club Atlético Lanús of the Argentine Primera División.

Player Background

Rodriguez is 21 years old from Lomas de Zamora in Buenos Aires. He began his career with Lanus in 2021 when he was just 16 years old. In his time in Argentina, Rodriguez made 32 appearances for Lanus II in all competitions, scoring 5 goals. For the first team, he made 28 appearances with 1 goal and 2 assists. He also made 6 appearances for the Argentina U-20 National Team.

Rodriguez was loaned to Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta ahead of the 2025/26 season. He started his team’s first three games of the season, playing 80 minutes in the opener before being subbed off at halftime in each of the next two games. He was not in the squad for the following game but made the bench for the next two games, although he didn’t see the field. His final appearances in Cyprus would be on Matchday 7 (October 18, 2025), when he started and went 55 minutes.

Analysis

For Rodriguez, it appears his situation in Cyprus became untenable. Four appearances for a struggling side (13th in a 14 team league when he last played, currently 11th) certainly wasn’t enough. Lanus surely want to see him playing somewhere and gaining more experience. Despite his career starting early, he is still only 21. And it appears that is where RIFC come in.

The big question now revolves around where Rodriguez will fit in in this RIFC side. With the recent departures of Maxi Rodriguez and Albert Dikwa, the squad certainly needs help in attack, though you could say that was the case regardless of the two players leaving. Still, Maxi and Chico accounted for just under a third of RIFC’s league goals this past season (9 of 29).

While Rodriguez is primarily listed as an attacking midfielder, he has made some appearances on the wing as well. And per RIFC’s press release about the addition, Khano Smith said:

Agustin is a young and exciting attacking player with a high-level soccer education and background. Players of his profile have had real success in our league. We look forward to adding an extra dimension in our attack

Based on that quote, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him playing off the right where RIFC had a massive hole in the attack last season. It’s really anyone’s guess as to how Khano decides to set the team up this year but if he goes with something similar to the 3-4-3 we saw last year, playing next to a Noah Fuson and off of striker JJ Williams would make the most sense.

Overall, I feel Rodriguez is a player RIFC fans should be excited about. Despite his numbers on paper not being great, he comes from a strong background in Argentina. And to be honest, no USL Championship team is going to get a player who has a bunch of goals/assists in the Argentinian League. The fact that he came through at such a young age is enough for me to believe he has the qualities to help RIFC this season.

The most interesting aspect of this however, is that none of RIFC’s four signings this offseason (Afonso, Scardina, Castro, and now Rodriguez) have come from the USL. Khano is seemingly looking outside the box and I for one, love it. There is plenty of talent out there if you look for it and the USL Championship (RIFC in particular) is a great place for players to come and develop and/or get back to their best. Now, it’s just up to Khano to put the players in the best position to succeed.