UPDATE: Here's what Adrian Hanauer had to say about the rumors: "We know Michael well. He was in Seattle during the summer to visit and for meetings. He is definitely a player whom we like, but there is no contract in place at this time."
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The Seattle Sounders will be paying homage to Kasey Keller on Saturday, and it appears plans are already in the works to find his longterm replacement. A report out of Austria (h/t @CoulterChris) suggests the Sounders are in talks with Michael Gspurning, a 30-year-old goalkeeper currently playing in Greece who has three caps with the Austria national team.
Gspurning himself is quoted in the story saying that he was in town for four days earlier in the season and was impressed by what he saw. It sounds like he was particularly happy to have several German-speakers on the technical staff, including coach Sigi Schmid. GM Adrian Hanauer and assistant coach Brian Schmetzer also speak German fluently. Gspurning stopped short of saying he is coming to Seattle, but sounded reasonably optimistic that one might come:
"I would not be unhappy if a contract comes into existence."
Gspurning seems to be a pretty solid option, but could be on the expensive side. He has posted 31 shutouts in 89 Greek league matches and has a 1.09 goals against average. It would make sense for the Sounders to go in a direction like this as neither Josh Ford nor Bryan Meredith seem ready to take over fulltime goalkeeping duties for a team that will have aspirations of winning multiple cups. Further complicating matters is the unknown future of Terry Boss, who was forced to sit out the final few months of this season because of concussions.