Nicholas Walker concedes he never thought he’d be taken in last month’s MLS Super Draft. So when a former college teammate at Fairleigh Dickinson called him in his native Trinidad and Tobago with news that FC Dallas had drafted him in the third round, he was a bit surprised.
“I was ecstatic,” Walker said. “I’d never been here, didn’t know anything about it, but didn’t mind it. It did not matter to me. I’m just glad for the opportunity to be here.”
The 24-year-old center back accompanied FCD on its trip to the United Arab Emirates between Jan. 30 and Feb. 12. He played in both games against BK Hacken of Sweden and feels good about both performances with his new club.
“It was more of just me showing what I had to the team. It was more about business,” Walker said.
Walker did not accompany Dallas on last week’s trip to Bradenton, Fla., instead returning home to secure some necessary paperwork. But while Walker hasn’t played in nearly two weeks, it’s clear that new FCD coach Oscar Pareja sees great potential in him.
“I like his attitude. I like the whole package. I think he’s a player who needs a lot of work still and he knows it, which is good,” Pareja said. “It’s encouraging to see that there are a lot of tools there that can be molded and we can use in the team. I’m excited to work with someone like Nicholas.”
Later this week, FCD will set its 30-man roster, and Walker hopes to be part of it. “I’m not worrying about that. I’m just going to play and whatever happens, happens,” he said.