7 players the Sounders should sign this off-season.

This transfer window has gotten off to a interesting start. Signing multiple youth players to our youth ranks, links to multiple FC Dallas players and Leo Chu being shown interest by Brazilian clubs. The usual chaos has been fun to follow. But what else should the Sounders do so we can return to the top of the MLS, let's find out by discussing who they can sign to accomplish that!

Some of the biggest talking points from this past season was the importance of the wing play and the lack of attacking chances throughout the year. The 6 million plus pound move for de la Vega hasn't paid off quite yet and because of the important of the play on the right wing and especially because of the old age of the likes of Morris and the notable underperformance of the likes of De La Vega and Georgi Minoungou. And with control on the right side of the field being such a crucial part of the game plan last season winger is a problem that needs to be addressed. And the answer to out woes may lay in Serbia.

18 year old Lazar Jovanovic currently sits on the bench at Serbia's best club ex champions league winners Red Star Belgrade a position many people in his country would want to be but he knows he's capable of more After doing so well in the u18s of the Serbian men's national team 4 goals and 1 assist in 8 appearances it's a mere statement of fact. Son of ex Serbian winger Milan Jovanović who played for Liverpool and played in the 2010 World Cup. He signed his 1st pro contract in 2022 at the age of 15 years and 11 months he 1st went to play in the u17s where he scored 16 goals in 25 appearances showing his strong finishing potential. 11 goals in 9 appearances with the u19s followed. With such a amazing start to his youth career no wonder he got called up to the seniors where all his momentum came to a screeching halt.

Fans of the Sounders have many ideas as to why our attack is lacking. From better wing play to inconstant play from Morris. While Morris used to be able to fly down the field 2 ACL tears later he can't moved like he used to. Perhaps more energetic and creative players behind him could allow him to focus more on be a scoring threat and getting more goals. Lazar Jovanović had made only 5 appearances for the main Red Star Belgrade team this year he has provide 2 assists and got a goal in 5 different games played. Showing his potential as a playmaker and of course all the goals he scored in his youth soccer days showing with the right development he could be our solution to getting more goals as well as creating them. All reasons to grab him now while he's cheap and make him a part of our bright future.

A option that is more safe but would be pricer would be 23 year old American Taylor Booth. Currently at FC Utrecht in the Netherlands, a FC Bayern reject after a 17 goals and 5 assists campaign in the 23/24 season this year he's underperforming with 9 appearance and no goal contributions whatsoever. We could get the young American on a bargain currently valued a 3 million which is still not half of what we paid for de la Vega. And as Albert Rusnák proved we've had suggest with big European club rejects before. We could also help ourselves out by recruiting from our upcoming CCC opponent: Antigua GFC. The man who's been creating the chances look no further than the man wearing No.99, Romario from Brazil. In 27 league appearances, he's had a massive 14 assists, which his 4 goals, puts him 8 goals ahead of the next Antigua GFC player in terms of total goal contributions, which is loanee Gomez the Argentinian on loan from Deportivo Pereira, a team in the Colombian 1st tier, in 23 league appearances, Gomez has scored 10 goals and 7 yellow cards.  

Another MLS guy and 1 from FC Dallas, since we're so keen on buying from them would be the Romanian winger Enes Sali. Only 18, the only downside I see to this is that if FC Dallas is selling both Paul Arriola and Jesus Ferreira, it's very likely 1 of the reasons they're willing to do that is that they see Sali as a fitting replacement for 1 of em, probably Arriola considering the position. It says a lot that someone who's only played in MLS Next Pro and is of course so young has already snatched a senior cap for Romania. In 25 appearances in the 2024 MLS Next Pro season when he was 17, he had 13 total goal contributions, with 8 goals and 5 assists. He even scored a goal in the playoffs. The stated reason FC Dallas are so ready to depart with 2 key contributors is because they want to build around the style of their new coach. I don't know how well Sali fits with his style, but if there's any doubts, we could play on those and also get him on the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, along with Paul Arriola and Jesus Ferreira. Either way, coming to Seattle or not, he's 1 to look out for.

Someone else struggling for time like Booth but has MLS experience and very recent experience too, is ex New York City FC and current EC Bahia in Brazil Uruguayan CDM Nicolás Acevedo. Who impressed in the MLS with NYC FC and would be smart to bring him back state side and give him the time and star power he's lacking in Brazil. Another CDM who could be next Vidal the Sounders could snatch is 20 year old Bruno Jáuregui. He's played a total of 16 games for Union Española a team in the top tier of Chilean soccer and he's worth 350k pounds for a reason, which believe me is a high price for a Chilean prospect nowadays. His teamwork, work rate and position all show the makings of a great CDM with the right development path. Aided by a great mentality full of aggression, bravery and a determention to become better at the sport of soccer. The Sounders could snatch him for cheap right now and develop him into the bedrock the defense needs to free up the playmakers to do their thing. Then sell him for a high, high price in a few years.

Lastly we started with a foreign signing and we'll end with 1. Faniel Tewelde is a Norwegian 18 year old currently playing in Belgium and I'm surprised he's as cheap as he is. He recently moved to Lommel SK in the top division of Belgium. He's only had 4 appearances so far this year with no goals or assists but my hype comes from his time in Norway with Odds BK. There, in 2 seasons with the senior team, he had 44 appearances and with 11 goals, which doesn't sound impressive until you remember that's when he was 16 to 17. Again, that wasn't with the  u21's or u19's, it was with the senior team with the adults. His time in the Norway u18's has also been impressive with him having 4 appearances with 3 goals. The start of his career reminds me a lot of Martin Ødegaard. In his time, in the top flight of Norway which he also started at 16, he had 23 appearances and had 5 goals with 7 assists. So while I'm not saying he's the next Martin Ødegaard, if you know anything about him then you'd know being a step or 2 below him makes you a pretty good MLS player, and certainly worth the around 2.50 million pound risk he's currently worth, which again sounds too low. That's all for now, thanks a bunch for reading!