RENTON — One of the biggest questions surrounding Jesús Ferreira when he first joined the Seattle Sounders was his ability to stay fit. Ferreira missed almost half of 2024 with a couple of different injuries and then was excused from the January United States national team camp for fitness reasons. There were loud whispers that he simply wasn’t willing to do the work required to stay healthy.
But heading into the final game of the 2025 regular season, Ferreira currently leads the Sounders with 44 appearances across all competitions — missing just two matches — and has already set a career high for minutes played.
Informed of how much he’s played this year, the 24-year-old seemed genuinely surprised.
“It's amazing,” he said, adding that he thought the number was closer to 30. “This offseason, there were decisions that had to be made in terms of maybe staying with the national team for January camp or coming (to Seattle) early and I think now looking at it, I think we made the right decision.”
Logging so many minutes isn’t just about staying healthy. Ferreira also had to win over coaches who weren’t entirely sure what kind of player they were getting.
Things didn’t start great, at least from a production standpoint. During the first few months of the season, Sounders coaches didn’t quite seem sure how to best deploy Ferreira. During eight seasons at FC Dallas, he had played almost exclusively as a 9 or 10 and had made a name for himself as someone who was primarily tasked with offensive responsibilities.
The Sounders hoped Ferreira would give them another goal-scoring option, possibly playing alongside Jordan Morris up top and/or filling in whenever necessary. It didn’t start great. Through his first nine MLS matches, Ferreira had just a single assist. Even more concerning, he had only taken five shots and generated just .4 xG. Ferreira looked nothing like the high-flying player who had become the youngest player in MLS history to score 50 goals.
Frustrating as that was, though, he also expressed how much he appreciated that Sounders coaches were giving him positive feedback in the way he was contributing in other areas.
“He’s incredibly talented,” Sounders assistant coach Andy Rose said in April. “I think we’ve already seen a lot of intelligent moments from him. You can focus on the negatives. Especially with attackers, you want something instant. But it’s a new team, a new locker room, a new house, figuring out everything outside of the game isn’t always easy.”
Although Ferreira hasn’t quite regained the scoring form he had in Dallas, his production picked up shortly after Rose gave that quote. Over the past six months, Ferreira has contributed five goals and seven assists across all competitions.
More than that, he’s established himself as a reliable midfield presence. While mostly deployed on the right, he has also ably filled in for Albert Rusnák at the 10.
He’s also proven himself a capable defender and a clever passer, even if his work isn’t always rewarded. Against Real Salt Lake, for example, Ferreira hit a gorgeous blind ball that put Morris into space and ultimately led to what would have been an insurance goal. Unfortunately, the pass was so well disguised that Morris was a little slow getting back onside, and the goal was disallowed.
The Sounders coaches also seem to trust him as much as anyone. He has played in 25 consecutive games, a stretch in which he’s started 21 times and played at least 28 minutes in all but one match.
“It goes back to the coaches having that trust in me and what I can do,” Ferreira said. “Not just score and assist, but also defend. I think that’s a huge part of why I have played a lot of games … wow, that’s a lot games.”
