Josh Atencio sold to the Colorado Rapids.

After Brian Schmetzer said that Atencio would move to centerback, this certainly makes this a surprise. The Washington state talent born and raised talent will leave the apple state for the mile high mountains of Colorado to play with the Colorado Rapids. Now that leads to a couple of questions, why did the Sounders decide to let him leave and is that a smart move?

In the end of season press conference Schmetzer said that the team will be switching to a 5-3-2 which would allow Atencio the CDM to start by switching to CB, plans have obviously changed however though maybe it should be a surprise. This season we brought in a lot of younger defenders this offseason. With the most promising amongst them being Leo Burney and Stuart Hawkins. Leo Burney being a ex-Seattle Sounders FC academy who captained Ivy League team the Penn State Quakers earning a lot of awards and the praise of his teammates for his leadership and play. While Stuart Hawkins has been with the Sounders for longer, skipping out on college to instead to play for the Tacoma Defiance and has already played heavy minutes for them, 1,847 despite only being 17. Not only that but both have been looking awesome this preseason. Looks like Sounders think 1 or both of these young men have put in the work and our already ready for a MLS level and even a starter level. Not to mention despite the 5-3-2 being the formation Brian said we're switching to we've yet to us it all preseason. Indicating a potential change in those plans, which could make more sense for these younger CBs rather than Atencio.

Plus we all in return receiving some very nice things in return for the young defender from Bellevue. $1.3m GAM + $ 300k add ons + 20% sellon, its sad to see a promising local player go always but this is good money for the Sounders to use either or in the future. Preferably to get some depth on the attacking side which we really need especially after we sold the Portuguese striker Braudilio Rodrigues. Speaking of another reason why this was a great move was the logjam we have at CDM and in defense anyway. With João Paulo staying for 2025 and us drafting a CDM in the 1st round in WVU's Ryan Baer along with Danny Leyva and the likes of Reed Baker-Whiting, Cristian Roldan, Yeimar Gómez Andrade, the returning Kim Kee-hee who can play there as well, Paul Rothrock, Jon Bell and Alex Roldán so as you can read a lot of guys there. So getting rid of Atencio for 1.3 mil to the Colorado Rapids for as sad as it maybe is a great decision by the Seattle Sounders. Thanks a bunch for reading!