Sounders aren’t pursuing Cyle Larin

There’s been a rumor circling Twitter over the last few days about the Seattle Sounders supposedly approaching Turkish club Besiktas about the possibility of signing Cyle Larin. The Canadian forward, you may remember, was last seen in MLS effectively forcing Orlando City to transfer him before the start of the 2018 season.

Since then he’s struggled to gain consistent minutes with the Turkish giants while seeing some success on loan with Belgium’s SV Zulte Waregem last year. Although Larin seems to have established himself as a starter this season, he appears to be in the final year of his contract and is probably angling for a new deal.

That’s where the Sounders supposedly come in. According to various reports, the Sounders approached Besiktas about Larin’s availability but were rebuffed and told to come back in January.

I did some basic digging on this and it confirmed my suspicions: There doesn’t seem to be much here. For one, everything I’ve found on this claims that the Turkish outlet Sabah originally reported this. I can’t find any evidence that they actually reported this either through their official Twitter channels or on their website. (Update: Found the report in Sabah, but can’t say it offers much in terms of concrete info other than Besiktas isn’t inclined to let him go.)

Even assuming they did report it, I’d still remain skeptical. For one, forward is not a really a position of need — notwithstanding Raúl Ruidíaz’s situation. More importantly, the Sounders don’t seem to have the flexibility they’d need to make this happen. Sounders GM Garth Lagerwey has said the team is out of salary cap room and acquiring Larin would not be cheap. Even if the Sounders wanted Larin, they’d need to figure out how to get to the top of the Allocation Order in order to do it.

All of which is to say, my very strong suspicion is that this is a rumor being driven by Larin’s agent and not one I’d give much chance of coming to fruition.