Seattle Sounders Transfer Rumor: Ajax Interested In Fredy Montero?

It's been pretty quiet on the Seattle Sounders transfer rumor front, but it looks to be heating up, and not necessarily in the way many of us would like to see. According to this article out of the Netherlands, Ajax is interested in buying Fredy Montero, possibly targeting him for a January transfer (h/t @zacrigg). (Disclaimer: It is worth noting that this site apparently allows users to rate the rumor as "credible" or "nonsense" and nonsense was winning by a nearly 3-to-1 margin when I checked.)

Now, I'm relying on Google Translate to decipher this, so there could be something getting lost in there, but it looks as if they are considering an offer of $4.7 million $6.7 million. As a point of comparison, Clint Dempsey was sold to Fulham for about $4 million in 2006, while Jozy Altidore went to Villareal in 2008 for $10 million. The Sounders would receive two-thirds (roughly $4.5 million) of that with $650,000 going toward allocation dollars that could be used on future transfers or to buy down salary cap hits.

That's hardly an insignificant amount of money. It's so much, in fact, that you'd have to imagine the Sounders would give it some pretty serious thought. If this article is accurate, it also suggests that the move would not come until after the MLS season, which would give Montero plenty of incentive to be in top form.

On Montero's end, a move to the Eredivisie could make a lot of sense. It should come as no surprise that Montero would almost certainly welcome this kind of move. While definitely not among Europe's so-called "Big 4" leagues, it is in that group just a step below. We've seen some great players, most recently someone like Luis Suarez who went from Ajax to Liverpool, use the Dutch league as springboard into bigger leagues. It would also likely improve his chances of getting called up to Colombia's national team.

Of course, Montero transfer rumors are nothing new. A year ago, word was Montero was going to Russia. As with any rumor, it's hard to know what to really make of them until we can at least get a little more than a blurb on a Dutch website. For the time being, I'm simply taking it as a sign that Montero is drawing interest, which is probably good for everyone. Let's just hope this doesn't turn into a distraction (which this article hardly helps keep from happening...).