While the severity of the injury to Jordan Morris is not yet official, with further testing to confirm severity on Monday, Seattle Sounders President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey knows that those results could change what the organization does during the transfer window, either this one or the next one.
“Yeah, if you lose one of your best young players — if, if — then you have to look at some things,” Lagerwey told the crowd at YachtCon Prime. “Whether that impacts this transfer window or whether it is a different transaction in the summer, we would have to start that process. I try to be prepared for lots of things, but if it’s a serious injury then that’s always going to change things.”
Lagerwey was careful in speaking about the need to replace Morris, mainly focusing on letting the Mercer Island native know that he is supported by the fans and the team alike.
“We wish him a speedy recovery, and again, Jordan we are all with you in spirit,” Lagerwey said to end that segment.
Earlier he addressed the offseason in general, saying that the team could announce a signing as early as next week.
“We’re working on some things. We might have an announcement as soon as next week. So we’re still working,” Garth said about the short offseason and transfer window. “It gets pretty intense, honestly. When you play 11 months two years in a row and you have a six-week offseason — and it’s roughest on these guys, because they have to come home, decompress, heal themselves, unwind and still come back fit enough to play in Champions League game. It’s a real challenge for them, the compressed offseason puts a lot of pressure on us as well.
”Here’s what I would say, and I think this hasn’t been repeated enough. We just went to back-to-back finals and we won one of them. I know we didn’t play as well as we wanted to in the last one, but I’ve got a ton of respect for the guys in our lockerroom and the guys on our roster. “
He mostly sees the roster as set, Morris injury aside, because the core of the team made it to MLS Cup twice, winning the Cup once. The moves in middle of last season were done to improve not just 2017, but 2018 as well.
“I think we’ve been really good. We lost two games after June 20 last year. Once we got our right back position settled and we brought in Victor Rodriguez as well, once that team settled, now we’ve added depth pieces in that group, in Eikrem, in this one that is coming next week — we hope. “
Lagerwey expressed confidence in his core. He sees them as they key to the future, not other signings.
“The foundation of the team, the core of the team, is guys who got us here. Guys like Cristian. Those are the guys that we’re going to rely upon for our success going forward. I think that’s a really, really, really important point to make internally and externally.”
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