Possible Sounders targets for summer signing

At this week’s Annual Business Meeting, Seattle Sounders General Manager & Chief Soccer Officer Craig Waibel provided some insight into the club’s summer shopping list. Waibel reaffirmed what has seemed like common knowledge for a while now, indicating that the Sounders are primarily looking to add a U22 Initiative player, specifically noting that they’re in contact with three players who were involved in the recently completed UEFA European Under-21 Championship, as well as a South American player.

Based on previous comments from Waibel we can pretty safely assume that they’re looking at guys who primarily play as a striker. We can also limit the list of players to those who’ve already had some degree of success at the professional level, as Waibel has expressed that a U22 signing would need to be someone who could contribute right away, which means at least being able to push Danny Musovski for minutes during what’s left of this season.

We’ll keep what’s left of the preamble short, but we should add some last bits of context before we start Naming Some Dudes. We should acknowledge the restrictions on this signing. The player must be 22 or younger, and they can’t turn 23 during the 2025 season. The club can spend whatever they want on a transfer fee, but realistically the Sounders probably aren’t going to spend more than $5 million (we’ll leave a little wiggle room on that), and they can receive a salary up to the maximum salary budget charge of $743,750.

Now let’s get to Some Guys!

Since Waibel gave us enough info to limit the scope of our search for European players, we’ll focus on that group for now. First some players who might not necessarily warrant a full exploration. Ernest Poku has been mentioned on lists like this before, and for pretty good reason. He’s got a deal that runs until next summer with AZ Alkmaar, and while that club has turned its attentions to re-signing their young homegrown players they haven’t inked a new deal with Poku. If he’s holding out for a move, the Sounders could potentially be the beneficiary of AZ’s desire to get something instead of nothing for their attacking talent.

There are also some guys who meet just about all the criteria, but either their price or profile would likely put them out of reach. William Osula is a tantalizing young Danish striker currently signed to Newcastle United. He had 3 goals and 2 assists in 185 minutes at the U21 Euros, but hasn’t hit as a pro yet. Mostly because he just hasn’t had the opportunity, so while he’s probably too expensive to buy outright, he could be a very interesting loan target. Similarly Nelson Weiper is entering the last year of his contract with Mainz 05, but particularly following his U21 Euros performance where he notched 4 goals, scoring in 4 straight games on Germany’s run to the final even if he’s somewhat unproven the competition for his signature will be incredibly fierce. Oh, and Transfermarkt pegs his market value at about $12 million, so even if Mainz took a discount he’s probably out of Seattle’s range.

Here’s some players who fit Waibel’s profile:

Mateo Joseph

Aside from playing in the UEFA U21s, one other detail that Waibel shared is that the players they’re looking at are also in talks with teams from “top 5” leagues. Enter Leeds United’s Mateo Joseph, the 21-year-old striker who moved to Leeds from Espanyol’s developmental system in 2022. This season past marked Joseph’s first real opportunity to show what he could do since joining Leeds, recording 3 goals and 3 assists in 1,285 minutes in the Championship. His performance apparently drew the interest of Real Betis, but talks between the two clubs seem to have stalled. Joseph has spoken about wanting a move to get more playing time — he made 17 of his 39 league appearances last season after the 1st of the year, but only had two starts after earning 11 starts during the first half of the season — and a move to the Premier League or a La Liga side seems unlikely to get him that increased opportunity.

Joseph would seem to offer an option behind Morris that Seattle doesn’t currently have. Although De Rosario and Musovski both offer a physical presence in the area and a focal point for the Seattle attack to revolve around, neither of them is able to stretch the field the way that Morris does. Joseph can do that. He’s got speed to burn, and uses it to find soft spots in opposition defenses. He manages to do most of his work in the box, with an average shot distance of 13.5 yards from goal, and 29 of his 39 recorded shots coming from inside the area last season. With both Leeds and the Spanish U21s he also does plenty of defensive work, an absolute necessity in Seattle. Transfermarkt puts his market value at a little over $4 million, and if the Sounders could lure him away for something around that figure it would be a good bit of business to secure their own potential Cucho Hernandez of sorts.