USA star Ricardo Pepi officially joins PSV Eindhoven from Augsburg in $11 million deal after rediscovering his goalscoring form in the Dutch league
After a season that started with uncertainty and ended strongly, Ricardo Pepi has officially completed his move to the Netherlands.
The El Paso, Texas-born American striker Pepi has joined Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven on a five-year contract from his Bundesliga parent club FC Augsburg for a reported fee of $9.8 million.
It is the first incoming transfer for PSV’s new director of football affairs, Earnie Stewart, who joined the club in February after serving as sporting director at the US Soccer Federation.
“Ricardo has the qualities we look for in an attacker, the qualities of a PSV player,” Stewart said in a press release.
He has proven to be a goalscorer in several positions and he works hard for it. It speaks volumes that he accounted for such a large part of FC Groningen’s goals.’
American striker Ricardo Pepi has come to PSV Eindhoven for 9.8 million dollars
The Texas-born attacker joins the club that finished second in the Eredivisie last season
“I’m incredibly happy and excited to be here,” Pepi said when his transfer was announced. “I think this is the right step for my career. PSV is a club with great ambitions and I share the same desire to win trophies.
“I am a hard-working player who is willing to do the dirty work. I prefer to have the ball close to the goal, because then I can score goals.’
Pepi joins PSV who finished second in the Eredivisie, earning a place in the qualifying phase for the Champions League.
After joining the Bavarian club from MLS side FC Dallas in January 2022, Pepi struggled against an Augsburg side who lacked a clear number 1 striker.
In 16 games for Augsburg, Pepi never scored once, so the club rented him out to Groningen at the start of last season.
There, after a slow start, Pepi was able to find the scoresheet that caught his attention at MLS level.
Although Groningen was relegated from the Eredivisie, Pepi led the team in goals – scoring 13 in 31 games.
That figure matches his career high that he scored in the 2021 season with FC Dallas.
After shining at FC Dallas, he joined Bundesliga side Augsburg in 2021 but failed to impress
That led to a move to Groningen – where he led the team with 13 goals last season
Pepi has also scored goals for the United States, scoring four in four games this year
Pepi has also been a force with the United States men’s national team – scoring seven goals in 16 appearances since his debut in 2021.
His first goal for the USMNT came in World Cup qualifiers in an away game in Honduras. That was soon followed by a brace against Jamaica in the same competition, which turned out to be the only goals that evening.
From there grew the ‘Pepi Hype Train’ – so much so that it became nicknamed ‘El Tren’. However, a lack of goals in 2022 led to him not being selected for the World Cup squad by former and incoming USA manager Gregg Berhalter.
But he managed to shake that off in 2023, scoring four goals in four games. That includes the final goal in a 3-0 defeat to rivals Mexico in the CONCACAF Nations League semi-finals.