Fresh off scoring against the Portland Timbers, Osaze De Rosario signed a full first-team contract with the Seattle Sounders on Thursday. The goal against the Timbers continued De Rosario’s blazing hot start to 2025, giving him 10 goals in eight matches across all competitions with the Tacoma Defiance. De Rosario will occupy a spot on the team's supplemental roster and is signed for the rest of 2025 with club options in 2026 and 2027.
“Osaze’s path to the first team is another example of how our developmental system is designed to work,” Sounders general manager Craig Waibel said in a team release. “Osaze has taken full advantage of his time with our staff with Defiance. He is currently performing at a high level and is showing the kind of professional growth we value. We believe he has the tools to continue to improve and to contribute in MLS. We’re looking forward to seeing how he evolves within our environment.”
Jeremiah Oshan
De Rosario, who is the son of MLS legend Dwayne De Rosario, came to the Defiance at the start of 2024 after a two seasons with the Canadian Premier League’s York United. Once considered a high-upside prospect, De Rosario’s career had started to stall and he was apparently looking for a kickstart.
De Rosario finished last year with six goals, but also was in and out of the lineup due to injuries, international duty and internal competition. The Sounders thought well enough of his potential to bring him to preseason in Spain, but apparently wanted to see more improvement before offering him an MLS contract.
It’s fair to say he’s done that in 2025. Riding the momentum of a four-goal outburst with Guayana in Concacaf Nations League qualifying at the end of 2024, De Rosario has scored or assisted in every Defiance match he’s played this season. He leads MLS Next Pro with eight goals in six appearances and currently has the highest non-penalty xG of any player in the league’s four-year history with at least 400 minutes of playing time.
De Rosario is the second player the Sounders have signed directly from the Defiance this season; they now have six players who they signed directly from their affiliate, not counting Homegrowns.
De Rosario’s signing brings the Sounders’ roster to 28 players, with 10 of 11 supplemental spots filled. They can still sign two more senior roster players as well as an effectively unlimited number of “off-roster” Homegrowns as long as they meet certain parameters. Newly updated MLS roster profiles also confirmed that the Sounders have $1,152,648 in salary cap space/unspent GAM available.
