The Loan
Fort Wayne Football Club has added Logan Neidlinger, a 20-year-old Indianapolis native, on loan from Indy Eleven of the USL Championship. A loan is one of the three ways players move in professional soccer, alongside transfers and free-agent signings: a temporary arrangement in which a player joins a new club while his parent club keeps his contract. Neidlinger is the first player the club has taken on loan since turning professional, a tool the front office had not used until now. Neither club has said how long the arrangement runs, but it appears his contract expires at the end of this season.
His trail runs through the Indy Eleven Academy, which Neidlinger joined in 2021 and where he won three consecutive USL Academy Cups with the under-20 side, playing alongside current Fort Wayne FC midfielder Kabiru Gafar. He signed an academy contract with the first team in January 2024, became the youngest player ever to appear in an Indy Eleven match, and that August became the first academy product to score a first-team goal for the club. A full professional contract followed that October. He played 16 matches across all competitions in 2024, nine in 2025, and 18 this season before the loan. His 12 league appearances in 2026 averaged just under 80 minutes each, a starter’s workload, until August.
The Defender’s Verdict
By the Numbers
Both clubs have called Neidlinger a midfielder, but the data calls him a fullback: his professional minutes have come as a wide defender, mostly at right back. Mike Avery and his coaching staff echoed the data this past Saturday, bringing him off the bench in exactly that spot in the 4-1 win at Portland Hearts of Pine. As a Fort Wayne player, we only have about 20 minutes of game tape, but there’s much more data available on him as an Indy Eleven player. The profile is defense-first: his defensive workrate grades out near the top of his position group, built on volume and reading of the game more than duel-winning. His passing is long, vertical, and direct rather than safe and sideways, and the trade-offs are real: his completion rate sits below what it should be, and his receiving under pressure has graded below average every year. He is a player who wants the game in front of him. Our possession-based style of play is not the same tactics deployed by Indy Eleven, so he’ll need to find his new rhythm, which should improve some of his individual metrics around receiving. When he does find the time and space to create, though, the chances are good.
His age-18 season in 2024 was the breakout, nearly a thousand Championship minutes with clearly positive value driven by his passing and ball-winning. 2025 buried him on the depth chart. This season he won the role back, starting regularly for a Championship side at age 20 and holding roughly league-average value while doing it. These are positive signs that Neidlinger should be a good competitor in USL League One.
Projected Role on Fort Wayne FC
We have two early accounts of Neidlinger. Avery described him in the announcement as a versatile player who can play outside back or midfield, and Saturday gave us a small first sample at right back. He is still young, and his best position on this roster is still being explored. Versatility is always useful, but so is a lineup you can lock in ink week to week.
At center back, we’re pretty locked, and if JP Jordan played his way into a starting #6 defensive midfielder, that would make Neidlinger most useful as a right back, now in competition with Jayden Smith for the start. The lineup options for Mike Avery and his staff got more interesting.
We have a defensive-first reinforcement, who has USL Championship experience, and is still quite young in his professional career. All upside. And if his contract comes off the books with Indy Eleven at the end of this season, Fort Wayne FC will have a few months to evaluate him for their 2027 plans. He appears to be the type of player this club can continue to develop, a win for everyone.
Always FWD