Aaron Kovar training with Preston North End

Jordan Morris isn't the only Sounders Academy product to be doing some overseas training. Like he did last offseason, Aaron Kovar is going to England ahead of the Seattle Sounders season. This time, Kovar will be training with Preston North End, a team that currently sits 15th in the 24-team English Championship.

"Aaron is a talented young player, and these types of experiences are always positive for development and fitness purposes," Sounders GM and President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey told the club's website. "We're hopeful that his time in England will be beneficial, allowing Aaron to hit the ground running in training camp with us in Seattle in a few weeks."

While the verbiage around this training stint is similar to what is being officially said about Jordan Morris' training stint with Werder Bremen, Kovar's is significantly different in at least one respect: He's under contract with the Sounders. As such, even if Kovar blows away Preston's coaches to the point they want to offer him a contract, the Sounders would at least have a say in the matter and would at least be owed a transfer fee.

More likely, though, this is something the team actually helped coordinate and are being entirely forthright in their hopes that Kovar simply is ahead of the preseason training curve. Assuming he's back in Seattle, the 22-year-old will likely be in line for a significant bump in the nearly 500 first-team minutes he logged across all competitions in 2015.