TULSA, Okla. – FC Tulsa announced on Thursday it had acquired attacking midfielder Faysal Bettache via transfer from Tacoma Defiance of MLS NEXT Pro. Per club policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed. Bettache will be available for selection in Tulsa’s contest against Indy Eleven on Friday night at ONEOK Field.

Bettache joins Head Coach Mario Sanchez and FC Tulsa after having made 17 appearances and 14 starts for the Defiance this season. The 24-year-old had recorded seven goals and three assists while sitting in the top 10 in MLSNP in both shots on target (27) and shots (47).

“Faysal is a dynamic attacking player, and that's what we were targeting,” said Sanchez. “He can play a great final pass that hopefully will lead to assists, and he has a really good left foot. He's scored a solid amount of goals for an attacking mid this season, so that was first and foremost.

“The second thing is that he brings a lot of experience. I think that will add another dimension to us.”

A native of London, England, Bettache previously spent time with Watford and Queen’s Park Rangers before coming to the United States a year ago to join St. Louis CITY 2. Across 27 appearances he recorded nine goals and two assists in St. Louis and recorded the first hat trick in club history on September 3, 2023, against Houston Dynamo 2.

Analysis

FC Tulsa has dipped into the MLS NEXT Pro ranks again with its acquisition of Faysal Bettache, with the 24-year-old having shown good production in a season-and-a-half with St. Louis CITY 2 and Tacoma Defiance. The 24-year-old has averaged a goal contribution every 156.2 minutes in just over 3,000 minutes of action in the league, and has posted a strike rate of a goal every 205.1 minutes.

The hope for Tulsa will be that Bettache acclimates to the higher level of competition more quickly than the attacking options it has acquired previously from Major League Soccer’s reserve league. Neither Diogo Pacheco or Stefan Stojanovic have contributed in the manner that was hoped for after their arrival this offseason, which is one of the reasons the side sits in the bottom quarter of the league’s goalscoring charts.