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After making his intentions very clear before the end of the college soccer season, it seems Darwin Jones has indeed inked his contract with the Sounders. Ives Galarcep reported on Twitter that the forward will be the Sounders' latest Homegrown Player signing.
I’m told the Seattle Sounders have finalized the signing of U. of Washington forward Darwin Jones as a Homegrown Player. #Sounders #MLS
— Ives Galarcep (@SoccerByIves) January 7, 2015
Jones has long been expected to make the move to the Sounders first team, and it appears he's finally ready. The speedy senior is coming off an 8-goal, 4-assist season as a focus of the attack for the Huskies, and would presumably compete for time at forward, and maybe on the left wing. It's also likely Jones is a signing with a loan to S2 in mind.
Darwin would be the Sounders' fifth signing under the Homegrown Player rules, after DeAndre Yedlin, Sean Okoli, Aaron Kovar and Victor Mansaray. As the Sounders Academy comes of age, the pipeline of talent is beginning to get wider.