Cillian Sheridan Offers Height, Physical Experience At Target Forward

Tall Irishman, Cillian Sheridan (6'5") will appear in tonight's Reserve Game (7PM, Starfire, Free) according to SoundersFC.com. He has several years of professional experience, most in the Scottish Premier League. While his contract was held by Glasgow giants Celtic he also played with several of the mid and lower caliber teams in the SPL. While he hasn't had much play with CSKA Sophia, that club was in the Europa League where he scored a goal.

This bodes well for the Sounders, if they can work out a favorable loan circumstance (short, parent club paying most of contract, no fee, option to buy - basically what Miguel Montano got). Scottish soccer in many ways is similar to MLS in that it is physical British Island soccer with more punt and pray. The 22-year-old with some national team experience is used to being bodied, and should stand a better chance at adapting to our unique game. He has a adjusted (secondary assists aren't counted in Europe) PP90 of 0.77 in all competitions in his short career. Good news for him is that the Irish National Team does call up MLS players, as they did with Caleb Folan. With the U-21 squad he scored via a header against Armenia playing 90 minutes as Ireland failed to qualify for the 2011 U-21 Euros.

He is skinny, but if he can deal with the physicality of Scottish soccer he will likely quickly learn to deal with it here. Since he is named, it is quite likely that a Discovery Claim has been submitted, and while he can not play with the First Team until mid-July if he is acquired the ability to train extensively with the team should help him fit in once he can play. It is also clear that he can play with the Reserve side as a guest player. There are three Reserve games prior to the window opening if Adrian Hanauer and company decide to acquire the player.

Cillian is a natural left-footer who has primarily been used as a lone striker and target forward, but also has experience across the midfield and even as a left back. This role flexibility and footedness fit into Seattle's pattern of finding players capable of fitting into systems in multiple ways, and could even lead to twin towers at outside mid, totally inverting the way we think about Target men.

Similar to Myron Samuel track his performances as post-game we will open source scout what we saw against the Vancouver Whitecaps Reserve side. The game will be live-blogged.