Did the Sounders give up on their youth too soon?

Over the past three windows the Seattle Sounders sent six young players on loan or via full sale around North America, plus of course Obed Vargas went to Atletico Madrid. We're not going to doubt the smarts behind getting a fee for a player with less than a year left on a contract while moving them to their favorite team that also happens to be one of three that's won La Liga since he was born.

The Cody Baker loan-to-buy and Yu Tsukanome loan are too early to assess. Both have an appearance with their new squads. Their depth may be necessary with Seattle right now, due to the injury tsunami, but their paths to regular time here were dependent on mass injuries. These two freed up space, an international slot and a tiny bit of General Allocation Money.

The other four brought in large swaths of GAM over a mutli-year span.

There's a theory that Seattle gave up on Josh Atencio, Danny Leyva, Georgi Minoungou and Reed Baker-Whiting too early. They were young and growing into their roles. Each played a position where Sounders are currently shallow.

Did Seattle give up too early?

No.

They monies collected haven't really been spent. That's an undeniable flaw. The players all would help Sounders win games now.

Those four aren't showing a surging development at their new clubs where their current on-field performance is a signal that Craig Waibel & Co. made a mistake.

Danny Leyva

Turned into a decent 10 on a quite bad Liga MX side. He earned a contract extension there. Things are doing well enough. Leyva seems to be on the path to being a successful attacking mid in a strong league.

Transfermarkt still has doubts. He's still off his high with Seattle and only up $500k since the deal. That likely comes down to being a more attacking player who isn't putting up attacking numbers. Danny had three assists in 1300+ minutes last season.

Here he'd still be behind two other 10s, both who have been justifiable DPs at some point. Would he break into the conversation when both Rusnak and Ferreira are healthy? No, that's why Seattle managed to get a million dollars for their third- or fourth-choice 10.

Josh Atencio

Before he left Brian Schmetzer considered transitioning him to centerback. That experiment ended fast when Colorado paid through the roof for the defensive midfielder.

Since acquiring him they've turned him into a rotational player, not quite breaking through. A few injuries have also slowed his arc. Transfermarkt suggests he's lost value.

If there were indications he'd be in the mix to compete for the second starter here, re-acquiring Atencio on the discount that the Rapids built into him would make sense. The Futi app rates Josh basically equal to Hassani Dotson in full, but has Josh as a better defender – something Seattle needs.

Georgi Minoungou

Flashy feet with a lack of finish made Minoungou available. The Rapids once again paid Seattle a large fee, speculating that they could make a young player better.

Georgi starts more frequently in Colorado than he did in Seattle, playing nearly 900 minutes with them, scoring once and assisting twice – that's lower per 90 numbers than he had here. His valuation is up, but not significantly so.

With the Sounders he would have provided the same thing he does in Colorado, that he did in Seattle – stunning dribbling with passes that feel more significant than they show in the boxscore.

He'd be useful right now. The team lacks the vibe he brings, but doesn't lack for failing to create chances that convert – because that's the 2026 Sounders attack. It's hard to call this a miss. Colorado is still searching for a better winger despite acquiring mostly wingers.

Reed Baker-Whiting

More than anyone else on the list he's carried the Sounders injury fortunes with him. The both-sided wide back is on one of the best teams in the league now. Nashville is in the Shield hunt with Vancouver and Inter Messi.

Reed's played that rotational wide-back role well for them, earning 900+ minutes in 17 appearances. Needless to say, a team that's using Paul Arriola as a fullback has wide-back depth issues. RBW would solve that.

But once again, we're not seeing a valuation leap. Seattle beat the Transfermarkt guess with 800k in GAM plus bonuses available.

Craig didn't quite cook by getting record fees for this group of four. He still took a quickfire challenge and turned it into a winning dish that gave him an advantage in the elimination challenge. Those that have watched Top Chef know that even with those advantages a chef can still wind up packing their knives and going home.

The secondary window is open until September 2nd. Seattle has cap space, an international slot, three U-22 spaces and more available to spend.