The Seattle Sounders are bringing back the bulk of the team’s contributors from 2025, but they’ve still got holes to fill and opportunities to improve. There are essentially three routes by which they can reload the roster: signings from abroad, players from within the domestic professional leagues, and talent matriculating from the college game. In this series we’ll look at each of those routes, but we’ll start with the most exciting group: international players. Look for the other parts of the series in the next few days.
Seattle have an estimated $1,666,293 in salary cap space — although this number could increase by a million or more, depending on Danny Leyva’s transfer fee —and a pair of U22 spots that they could use, which gives them some space to add talent.
The Sounders need to fill out their midfield, add backup behind Andrew Thomas, and some defensive cover before accounting for any player-for-player upgrades or changes elsewhere.
Given the roster and salary constraints, it may make the most sense to add players who are closer to prospects than vets to save on their cap hit. That said, I’d be surprised if Seattle used more than one of their U22 spots on an external player in this window to allow for a possible Obed Vargas extension or a summer signing using that mechanism. With all that out of the way, let’s get busy! Look
Defenders
The Sounders have a pretty full complement at centerback. They're returning their two starters in Jackson Ragen and Yeimar. Kim Kee-hee is back and Stuart Hawkins looks ready for a bigger role. Alex Roldan’s also a solid option alongside Ragen, and Cody Baker may be a little undersized but he could serve as a decent stylistic fit next to Ragen as well (in the dog-cat paradigm Michael Cox once described, Ragen is a cat who works best alongside a dog). That said, Yeimar and Kim aren’t getting any younger and both had health and fitness issues at times this year. I liked Roldan at CB, but he’s still the first choice at right back, and while Hawkins certainly has the talent to play at the MLS level he’s much more of a Ragen than a Yeimar and the team plays their best when they’ve got one of each.
Assuming Yeimar’s not going anywhere, Seattle could use a young player who can back him up and potentially inherit his role. If the Sounders want to make an investment here, a high-upside CB could be a good use of that U22 spot.
Elias Bakatukanda is a 21-year-old German youth international currently playing in the Austrian Bundesliga for Blau Weiss Linz on loan from 1.FC Köln. His distribution isn’t anything to get excited about, but with players around him who are capable of carrying that load he’d only need to play simple passes to them. His greater value comes on the defensive side of things, where he averages 2.45 tackles per 90 minutes, 6.56 duels won, 3.68 aerial duels won, 2.16 interceptions, and 4.11 recoveries. He rarely gets into disciplinary trouble, and at 6’3” he’s a serious presence on set pieces. Transfermarkt puts his transfer value at around $600k, and his current salary is estimated to be around $160k per year. He’d realistically be a bit of a project, but he’s the sort of player who could be a huge asset if Seattle could bring him in and help him develop his game.
Another possible project is Sebastián Ramírez, a 19-year-old (20 in February) defensive utility player of sorts for Colombian side Fortaleza CEIF. Ramírez has played the bulk of his professional minutes as a CB, but also has appearances all up and down the spine in midfield, as well as at RB. He isn’t huge at 6’, but his tools combined with a transfer value around $175k according to Transfermarkt and the fact that he’s a U.S. citizen having been born in Florida make him an interesting development piece at a price that could make sense even if he’s not signed as a U22 player. The fact that he could potentially offer cover in a number of spots doesn’t hurt, either.
If the Sounders want to flex a little and put the U22 spot to work for a player who could possibly step in and perform right now, allow me to introduce Boca Juniors’ Lautaro Di Lollo. Di Lollo turns 22 in March, and has already proven himself a reliable contributor over two seasons for one of the biggest clubs in the Western hemisphere. The 6’2” CB ranks among the 90th percentile for tackles (2.07 per 90), 92nd percentile for tackles won (1.44), 87th percentile for dribblers tackled (1.08), 79th percentile for blocks (1.44), and has committed 0 errors in 1,999 minutes. He’s a more than capable passer of the ball as well, if that wasn’t enough. He signed a new deal with Boca that runs through 2029, and Transfermarkt lists his transfer value at about $4.65 million, so it would take a serious investment to get him, but for the price they’d get a guy who could potentially anchor the back line for a decade. This one’s the least likely move for obvious reasons, but it’s fun to dream.
Midfielders
This position group has quickly become a more urgent priority with reports emerging that Danny Leyva is headed to Necaxa. Add in João Paulo’s departure and the still-unclear future of Obed Vargas, and signing midfield reinforcements probably jumped towards the top of Waibel’s to-do list. Even if Vargas is sticking around for the time being, it seems unlikely he’s in Seattle beyond 2026. It’s better to plan for that possible future now than wait until he’s gone if possible.
