Raul Ruidiaz’s Liga MX team says move to Sounders is complete

Raul Ruidiaz is still not officially a member of the Seattle Sounders, but his Liga MX team is treating his transfer as a done deal. Monarcas Morelia sent out a Tweet proclaiming Ruidiaz as the Sounders‘ “franchise player” on Wednesday, something they were previously rumored to be planning to do. The Sounders declined to comment.

It’s not exactly unprecedented for one team to say a move is complete before another is comfortable even commenting on the situation, but this situation seems a little odd. The Sounders don’t have any plans to make an announcement this week, which suggests there’s at least some work to be done behind the scenes to completely finalize the deal. That could be anything from Ruidiaz’s personal terms to something as mundane as a visa.

As anyone who has dealt with high-leverage contract negotiations can attest, nothing is truly complete until all the papers are signed and the terms fully completed. What Monarcas’ Tweet suggests is that their part of the negotiations — aka the transfer fee — has been accepted and the personal terms are close enough that they aren’t worried about bidding farewell to a player who is likely to return.

Either way, Ruidiaz won’t be able to make his Sounders debut until after the transfer window opens on July 10, Peru has been eliminated from the World Cup, and he’s had some period of time to recover.