Austin FC announced on June 16 that the club had waived winger Robert Taylor and exercised a buyout of his 2026 guaranteed contract, removing him from the Senior roster and from the club’s 2026 salary budget.
In a club statement Austin FC said, "Austin FC announced today that the Club has waived and exercised a Buyout of a Guaranteed Contract on winger Robert Taylor. Taylor will no longer occupy a Senior roster spot, and his wages will no longer count against the Club’s 2026 salary budget." The move takes immediate effect and changes how the club will account for that roster slot and salary space as it finalizes plans for 2026.
Taylor arrived at Austin FC in 2025 in a $615,000 transfer from Inter Miami. This season he appeared in 24 games and registered one goal and one assist, numbers that fall well short of his earlier production.
Background reporting and club notes attribute the drop in Taylor’s output largely to a knee injury that, the material says, has sidelined him for the entire season. That detail sits uneasily beside the appearance total: the public record shows Taylor played 24 times for Austin FC this year, even as other accounts describe a season dominated by a long-term knee issue.
The buyout also makes Taylor a free agent. The club did not announce a destination for him; sources contain no immediate indication where he might sign next. For Austin FC, the buyout is concrete roster management — a cleared senior spot and $615,000 no longer counting against the club’s 2026 salary budget — and it gives the coaching staff a defined opening to pursue reinforcements.
Taylor’s history includes a high-profile link to Inter Miami and time as a teammate of Lionel Messi, a connection that helped raise expectations when he moved to Austin. For context on Messi’s ongoing profile in MLS and his Inter Miami move, FilmoGaz has previously covered his team switch and its effects on the league (see "Who Does Messi Play For: Lionel Messi Now Stars for Inter Miami as He Nears Sixth World Cup" and "Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami move forces MLS owners to reconsider single‑entity model").
The unresolved detail that will drive immediate attention is twofold: Taylor’s roster status is now clear — he’s off Austin FC’s books and a free agent — while the chronology and severity of the knee injury remain murky when compared with his 24 appearances. That gap matters for any club weighing a pickup; medicals and clarification of the injury timeline will be the first practical step for teams interested in Taylor.
For Austin FC the effect is immediate and decisive: a single senior roster slot and the associated 2026 salary space have been reclaimed. For Taylor it means market uncertainty. He leaves Austin as a free agent with a modest statistical return this season and unanswered questions about his fitness and availability — the facts as stated point to an experienced winger whose next move will depend on how quickly those questions are resolved.
