Late last night, the summer transfer window officially closed. For a fourth straight year, the Seattle Sounders failed to make a move.
A year ago, I was pretty sure they were the only team in at least the last 10 years to go three summer windows without a signing from outside MLS. This year, I know they’re the only team that didn’t make any move and just one of two that didn’t make a signing from outside their organization. (They did add Snyder Brunell right after the window opened, which is why there’s a slight caveat.)
Each season, there has been a somewhat similar refrain. Usually, it’s that the Sounders built their roster in a way that left them little room to maneuver. We’ve been told more than once that the Sounders were looking for a unicorn – someone who fit a very specific need, at a very specific price – only to come up short. This year was a bit different, though. The Sounders seemed to set things up specifically with the intention of giving themselves options in the summer.
At the start of the season, the Sounders had three open U22 spots and about $1.1 million in available salary-cap space, more than all but 12 other teams. Since then, they received an infusion of $9.55 million for their participation in the Club World Cup, with some portion of that presumably earmarked for a potential transfer. In the months leading up to the window, GM Craig Waibel had openly talked about his desire to sign a young No. 9. On Sunday, he’s supposed to provide a bit more context as to why that didn’t happen.
I’ve seen a list of some of the players they pursued, at least a couple of whom they came very close to signing. The Sounders agreed on a fee to bring in Netherlands youth international Noah Ohio, but he wanted to stay in Europe. They got even closer with Serbian youth international Milos Lukovic, only for someone higher up in the BlueCo organization to apparently nix the deal after the player and RC Strasbourg Alsace's club leadership were ready to make the move. They seriously looked at attacking players in Asia, Europe and Mexico; they were apparently open to wingers and central midfielders, not just No. 9s as I had previously thought. Their list included a former MLS Homegrown who had moved abroad and an American youth international who they thought might be open to a return to the United States (apparently he was not). By all appearances, they even had a decent budget.
Each one hit a roadblock of one sort or another, which is admittedly how these things often go. Any front-office employee will tell you they pursue hundreds of deals that never get done. But even then, literally every other MLS team has figured out a way to make at least one summer signing over the past four years. Many of them are making multiple signings literally every summer.
It seems like the Sounders were a bit more willing to spend this summer than previously, but something is clearly off with how they identify potential targets as many of them don’t seem all that interested in coming to MLS. Finding talent, I’ve been told repeatedly, is the easy part. Finding the right talent who’s willing to come here is where it gets tricky.
That no signing was made has to be seen as not just a failure to bolster a roster that is currently beset by injuries to several key contributors, but also a missed opportunity to add some more attention to a team that has been playing some of its most aesthetically pleasing soccer in over a decade. The Sounders are fun, but people want to be entertained outside of gameday, too. I genuinely wonder if the club’s leadership sometimes forgets that.
Making matters worse is looking around the league and seeing what some of the other top contenders have managed to do with seemingly fewer resources. Some of the notable movers:
