The Sounders, lacking ambition? Or playing the long game the smart way?

After the Sounders suffered the heartbreaking 1-0 loss in the conference finals. Fans looked to this years transfer window to fix flaws like the lack of finishing and a consistent defensive rock in the midfield to usher in the attack. And at 1st it looked like the Sounders were going all out to fix this issues. With the Sounders being linked to FC Dallas attackers Jesus Ferreira and Paul Arriola to fix our finishing and creating plays issues. Then it looked like we were getting rid of a lot of our older stars that while beloved and their contributions to many of the Sounders greatest moments will be forever cherished. Moving on from such players like, Joao Paulo, Raúl Ruidíaz and Albert Rusnák showed a awareness that these great players aren't as great as they were in last 10s and early 20s so to reach the heights of the likes of winning the MLS Cup and the CCC again we'd need younger blood. But recently things shifted heavily.

The Arriola and Ferreira moves have stalled with no updates and not only have in the meantime the only signings we've made have been cheaper young talent, nothing that'll on the surface won't make a immediate big impact. Not only that but in a week and a day we traded away a total of 4 Designated Players slots for a total 550,000$ to both the New York Red Bulls and the brand new San Diego FC. And now older players like Albert Rusnák are rumored to be coming back. Joao Paulo came back despite not only Obed Vargas breaking out last season but also drafting Ryan Baer in the 1st round. Then 1 of our younger promising attackers Leo Chu is rumored to be heading to Brazil. Anyone can see why Sounders fans are upset.

Many of which I did articles on like, here

this

and finally this

With many fans due to all this saying the club lacks ambition. But is that true and what benefits does this strategy have, if any and then what are the downsides? That's what I found out. 1st thing we should make clear it we've been stockpiling young talents and great depth players for awhile. The likes of Jamaican Jon Bell, Salvadorian Alex Roldán and Cameroonian Nouhou Tolo are in the prime of their careers and 2 of em have been waiting in the wings for awhile getting more and more time as the years go on. And I'm sure 2025 will be the biggest year for all 3 players yet.

As for the younger players who the Sounders have been developing and are ready to break out are the likes of Reed-Baker Whiting the promising full-back from Seattle, Washington who strong dribbling will make him a threat to start plays and strong tackling will also make him very useful on the defensive side of the ball. Of course Obed Vargas another player with strong tackling and dribbling capabilities and at only 18 years old looked very promising last year. Then another young defensive mid in Danny Leyva but that gets into 1 of the problems I'll highlight later.

This is to point out that the Sounders haven't been sitting on their butts doing nothing while we've made 4 straight MLS Cup finals and won the 2022 CCC. They've been stock piling talents many of which they've developed well and our starting or have already come into their own. So you could argue that we didn't made to make a big splash this off-season. And maybe they have a point.

Big flashy signings are easy thing to do in the moment to win over fans. As a player fans know are talented coming to your team, seems like a obvious improvement and a easy way ownership shows they care. But key word there is seems. Any fan of this sport can tell you there's been lots of big signings that didn't work out for all sorts of reasons. And the Sounders unlike a lot of MLS clubs have never relied very heavily on big signings. And our last big signing Pedro De La Vega so far hasn't worked out. Though we can assume that if they're ready to let the likes of Leo Chu go they're relying on him adaping to the MLS soon. But if we're going for the more long term and cheap approach, are we going about it right then?

1 very obvious flaw I see is that we now overstocked at CDM. We're holding on to Joao Paulo despite Obed Vargas proving he was a perfect replacement and was ready to be a starter in the MLS. And we drafted Ryan Baer another CDM from West Virginia University. Leyva looks to be on the way out anyway but I don't seen the point in keeping Paulo. The work he did for the Sounders was phenomenal and the clubs greatest moments wouldn't have been possible without him. But we can't look at him for what he was, he should and will look at him for what he is. And what he is, is a talented injury riddled 33 year old who's only going to get worse. Who will now have to learn a new formation under Brian Schmetzer. Or he's a bench player but then we could've let him walk and buy a newer younger depth piece with some of the money we traded DP spots for.

Instead of trying to teach a old injury riddled dog new tricks. We could've started either Leyva or 1st round pick Ryan Baer rather than seeing Paulo try and figure out for 1 year then move on to 1 of those 2 anyway. Delaying the inventible has no benefits. Also I really disagree with trading the DP spots even of it was for extra cash. We have more issues like who's going to create and score the chances for the Sounders and we're cutting ourselves off from all sorts of players who could've used their great talents to help us out with that.

As for the MLS options are we are looking into to plug these holes. Jesus Ferreira is a very talented MLS forward and isn't only capable of scoring goals but of creating them and being great in the press. Which should help out a older Jordan Morris who doesn't have that pace and stamina he used too after 2 ACL tears. So he can focus more on scoring those goals which should allow him to be better at that then he was last season. I really like this move but what's stopping me from saying I love it is his injuries. Last season he only scored 5 goals and had 3 assists and yeah it could be a bad season on a team that had a really bad season. But when that's the same guy who's had 5 injuries in the last 2 years, you should consider it might be something more. I don't want a 23 year old to never live up to his full potential because his body let him down, that would be heartbreaking especially for the USMNT. But again it's a reason to be skepitcal. Not to mention despite his age it's most likely not a long term solution because he openly said he wanted a move to Europe but couldn't find 1. So 1-2 great seasons here he's then skipping across the pond.

As for Paul Arriola he's someone who while never suffering the same injury has been far from the most directly impactful the past 2 seasons. He does have 1 of the best long balls in the MLS and that'll help the playmaking for sure. But again if we kept those DP spots we could've found someone better than pretty good which is what he would be at his best here. That to say I do agree with the fans fears though not for the same reasons. Rather than a lack of ambition it comes across more to me as overconfidence.

Never put your faith in plans best laid is a pretty good rule of thumb but that seems to be 1 the Sounders aren't adhering to. They have spent years developing these players and bringing in these great signings on the cheap not to mention bringing in the likes of Leo Burney, Stuart Hawkins and Omar Hassen 3 very promising young players shows a very good long term planning and commitment. But perhaps we're too okay with settling for pretty good because we're counting on these players we've already brought on to our system to become excellent when given the chance. The Sounders have already seen their plans not work out before such as the massive signing De La Vega signing which didn't work out last season. And with even more rumors Leo Chu will be heading back to Brazil. Having that flexibility to see when things might not work out 100% and being willing to make the move to solve that issue righ then and there is the difference between a conference finals and a MLS Cup final. But the Sounders are excellent at youth development and the likes of Bell and Roldán have shown themselves to be great players when the moments come. So I'm 100% we won't take a major setback and it wouldn't even suprise me if we win a MLS Cup again with all the depth and talent we do again. But I still don't want to see my team settle because the difference between 1 MLS cup and a dynasty could be that, thanks a bunch for reading!