Nouhou signs extension through 2026

UPDATE: The Sounders officially announced Nouhou’s extension on March 15. The new deal guarantees him through 2025 and has an option for 2026.

Nouhou has signed an extension that will keep him under the Seattle Sounders’ control through 2026, a source confirmed to Sounder at Heart. The left back had previously signed a contract extension in 2021 that was guaranteed through this season and had an option for 2024.

While no other details were available, it can reasonably be assumed that Nouhou will get a raise on a contract that paid him about $300,000 in 2022.

Still just 25, Nouhou first joined the Sounders organization in 2016 and signed a first-team contract in 2017. He has been a regular starter since 2018 and has been a significant part of the Cameroon national team since 2021, most notably at the most recent World Cup where he started three games.

Despite establishing himself as one of the league’s best 1v1 defenders — and shutting down the likes of Mo Salah at the international level — serious transfer offers have never really materialized. Nouhou once openly welcomed the possibility of playing in Europe, but more recently seems to have grown more comfortable with the idea of staying with the Sounders longer term. This extension suggests the Sounders wouldn’t mind that either.

Through three competitive matches in 2023, Nouhou seems to have also embraced a less marauding style and has seemed more content to focus on tenacious defending while being pickier about when to join the attack.

This story was originally published on March 6.