Seattle Sounders 2017 season thread

[SeatownJay]

Sounders have made an offer to Sebastian Blanco, currently with San Lorenzo in Argentina. Seattle also placed a bid for him last summer when it looked like the deal for Lodiero might fall through.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Sounders have made an offer to Sebastian Blanco, currently with San Lorenzo in Argentina. Seattle also placed a bid for him last summer when it looked like the deal for Lodiero might fall through.

Blanco's a goal scoring machine, but I worry about his size in the MLS..........he's only like 5'6 or 5'7 and 140 lbs.

MLS and it's clumsy thuggish defenders aren't very kind to small goal scoring mids and forwards.

 

[SeatownJay]

Sounders have made an offer to Sebastian Blanco, currently with San Lorenzo in Argentina. Seattle also placed a bid for him last summer when it looked like the deal for Lodiero might fall through.

Blanco's a goal scoring machine, but I worry about his size in the MLS..........he's only like 5'6 or 5'7 and 140 lbs.

MLS and it's clumsy thuggish defenders aren't very kind to small goal scoring mids and forwards.

9 goals & 8 assists in 73 appearances for San Lorenzo. I wouldn't call him a goal scoring machine.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

Valdez has officially left, gone back to his home country

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Sounders have made an offer to Sebastian Blanco, currently with San Lorenzo in Argentina. Seattle also placed a bid for him last summer when it looked like the deal for Lodiero might fall through.

Blanco's a goal scoring machine, but I worry about his size in the MLS..........he's only like 5'6 or 5'7 and 140 lbs.

MLS and it's clumsy thuggish defenders aren't very kind to small goal scoring mids and forwards.

9 goals & 8 assists in 73 appearances for San Lorenzo. I wouldn't call him a goal scoring machine.

I only see 55 appearances on the stat site.......and so far this year 3 goals in 11 appearances, that's not too shabby for an attacking mid.

 

[Uncle Si]

Does anyone care if I turn the thread into general MLS discussion?

Could be a nice move for the new MLS squad in my city

http://www.espnfc.us/story/3036419/minnesota-united-close-to-signing-rasmus-schuller-sources

I like moves like this for the MLS. Young player, international and opting to play in the MLS instead of one of the lower Euro leagues. More of these moves will see the quality of the MLS go up, and maybe keep more American's here instead of option for these other leagues (outside the 5/6 major ones...)

Minnesota youth player Jackson Yueill is one of the top prospects heading into the draft on Friday. He would be the 5th MN born player to play in the MLS and 12th overall to play professionally in the last 6 years.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Does anyone care if I turn the thread into general MLS discussion?

Could be a nice move for the new MLS squad in my city

http://www.espnfc.us/story/3036419/minnesota-united-close-to-signing-rasmus-schuller-sources

I like moves like this for the MLS. Young player, international and opting to play in the MLS instead of one of the lower Euro leagues. More of these moves will see the quality of the MLS go up, and maybe keep more American's here instead of option for these other leagues (outside the 5/6 major ones...)

Minnesota youth player Jackson Yueill is one of the top prospects heading into the draft on Friday. He would be the 5th MN born player to play in the MLS and 12th overall to play professionally in the last 6 years.

I like any big MLS signing, old and young players alike. Because all it does is raise the level of play and more importantly the exposure of the league.

For as much as I kick Garber and the owners in the nuts over their lack of transparency and unwillingness to open the books for scrutiny, I applaud them for getting creative with the allocation/DP/under 23 DP rules so the league can continue to grow. That's not an easy task, to try and keep the LA Galaxy's of the world (and Sounders) from just buying trophies, while still giving clubs the means to go out and sign good to great players.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

I have a feeling Minnesota may become Sounders East. Their ownership seems to be keyed in and I have a feeling they will be well supported. As for buying trophies...until Seattle has as many MLS cups as Galaxy I refuse to believe they'll be on a par with the Galaxy and NY teams and snap up any good foreign player wanting to come to the league. Foreign players will always want to go to those markets as they are more glamorous

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

Any update on Dempsey? I hope they make a decision soon one way or another so we aren't sitting around last minute trying to replace him like Oba. Especially as they have to fill Valdez DP spot as well. I know he got called up to USMNT cap but i'm not reading much into that.

 

[Uncle Si]

I have a feeling Minnesota may become Sounders East. Their ownership seems to be keyed in and I have a feeling they will be well supported. As for buying trophies...until Seattle has as many MLS cups as Galaxy I refuse to believe they'll be on a par with the Galaxy and NY teams and snap up any good foreign player wanting to come to the league. Foreign players will always want to go to those markets as they are more glamorous

Its a good ownership group and a fantastic soccer city (filled with great youth soccer coaches...)

The support for the NASL team was fairly decent. I will be intrigued, however, if people are willing to come out with consistency to see the MLS team.

Like many MLS cities, this one's soccer fans connect with European teams quite well.

 

[SeatownJay]

Any update on Dempsey? I hope they make a decision soon one way or another so we aren't sitting around last minute trying to replace him like Oba. Especially as they have to fill Valdez DP spot as well. I know he got called up to USMNT cap but i'm not reading much into that.

The front office is "cautiously optimistic" he'll be available for the preseason.

http://www.espnfc.com/seattle-sounders- ... ailability

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

Sounders have made an offer to Sebastian Blanco, currently with San Lorenzo in Argentina. Seattle also placed a bid for him last summer when it looked like the deal for Lodiero might fall through.

Blanco's a goal scoring machine, but I worry about his size in the MLS..........he's only like 5'6 or 5'7 and 140 lbs.

MLS and it's clumsy thuggish defenders aren't very kind to small goal scoring mids and forwards.

9 goals & 8 assists in 73 appearances for San Lorenzo. I wouldn't call him a goal scoring machine.

Feel like we should make this thread the Generic Cascadian MLS team thread since we get the odd Timbers fan and sometimes rare Whitecaps fan pop in. Apparently Portland have bid $4.5 million for Blanco. If this is the case, I wonder if they try and cash in on Nagbe rather than have 2 DP's on the wing positions. Nagbe has been linked with a move to Europe, so it may happen.

 

[Uncle Si]

I'll keep up the Minnesota and KC news

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Sounders have made an offer to Sebastian Blanco, currently with San Lorenzo in Argentina. Seattle also placed a bid for him last summer when it looked like the deal for Lodiero might fall through.

Blanco's a goal scoring machine, but I worry about his size in the MLS..........he's only like 5'6 or 5'7 and 140 lbs.

MLS and it's clumsy thuggish defenders aren't very kind to small goal scoring mids and forwards.

9 goals & 8 assists in 73 appearances for San Lorenzo. I wouldn't call him a goal scoring machine.

Feel like we should make this thread the Generic Cascadian MLS team thread since we get the odd Timbers fan and sometimes rare Whitecaps fan pop in. Apparently Portland have bid $4.5 million for Blanco. If this is the case, I wonder if they try and cash in on Nagbe rather than have 2 DP's on the wing positions. Nagbe has been linked with a move to Europe, so it may happen.

I saw this yesterday.

Doesn't this reek of the league stepping in and making sure Blanco goes to Portland because they're losing Nagbe?

I assume Seattle can outbid Portland if the want to, so I hope the league isn't meddling.

 

[Uncle Si]

Isn't that effectively what the league did for Seattle and Dempsey?

Also, why would Nagbe choose Celtic over the MLS? The only thing they offer over the MLS is 6 Champs league games.

Celtic just signed Kouassi Eboue... not sure what impact that has on their pursuit of Nagbe. Not effectively similar players but both are money on the books.

 

[SeatownJay]

The regular season schedule was released today.

http://www.soundersfc.com/schedule?mont ... lters_form

The MLS Cup rematch will be Saturday, May 6 in Seattle. Sounders close the season with back-to-back Sunday home games on October 15 & 22, so that should give us an idea on when the Seahawks may get their bye week. Sounders also have a home match on Sunday, September 10 so the Seahawks will be starting the season on the road.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

Isn't that effectively what the league did for Seattle and Dempsey?

Also, why would Nagbe choose Celtic over the MLS? The only thing they offer over the MLS is 6 Champs league games.

Celtic just signed Kouassi Eboue... not sure what impact that has on their pursuit of Nagbe. Not effectively similar players but both are money on the books.

Celtic are a far, far bigger club than Portland and any MLS team that's why and have a coach who at the moment is getting the best out of his talent with Brendan Rodgers. They are just hamstrung by being in a small league/country but have a bigger support than most EPL teams. Plus if he does well there he is far likely to get a move to a top EPL team see: Van Dijk, Wanyama, Forster etc.

I don't think Celtic are still interested in Nagbe though, I think Portland were pretty firm in their demands...at least for noe.

 

[Uncle Si]

Isn't that effectively what the league did for Seattle and Dempsey?

Also, why would Nagbe choose Celtic over the MLS? The only thing they offer over the MLS is 6 Champs league games.

Celtic just signed Kouassi Eboue... not sure what impact that has on their pursuit of Nagbe. Not effectively similar players but both are money on the books.

Celtic are a far, far bigger club than Portland and any MLS team that's why and have a coach who at the moment is getting the best out of his talent with Brendan Rodgers. They are just hamstrung by being in a small league/country but have a bigger support than most EPL teams. Plus if he does well there he is far likely to get a move to a top EPL team see: Van Dijk, Wanyama, Forster etc.

I don't think Celtic are still interested in Nagbe though, I think Portland were pretty firm in their demands...at least for noe.

I know who Celtic are... and Brendan Rodgers.

Far bigger club in a league that, at best, is equal to the MLS. Much the same as going to Ajax for example. Big name, solid fan base, play 6 Euro games a season and drift off into the shadows only to repeat again in the Summer.

Celtic is a stepping stone for ambitious players to Europe, nothing more (again, much like Ajax). So, my point was, if Nagbe is ambitious why choose Celtic at this point? He's 26... why choose another stepping stone.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Isn't that effectively what the league did for Seattle and Dempsey?

Also, why would Nagbe choose Celtic over the MLS? The only thing they offer over the MLS is 6 Champs league games.

Celtic just signed Kouassi Eboue... not sure what impact that has on their pursuit of Nagbe. Not effectively similar players but both are money on the books.

The league absolutely facilitates where DP's play, but it's a combo of cost and options of where the DP wants to play.

I highly doubt Blanco would choose Portland over Seattle..........this to me seems different, like the league REALLY wants that Nagbe transfer money so they're sweetening the pot for Portland by switching Blanco's destination from Seattle to Portland for roughly the same loan fees.

 

[Uncle Si]

Isn't that effectively what the league did for Seattle and Dempsey?

Also, why would Nagbe choose Celtic over the MLS? The only thing they offer over the MLS is 6 Champs league games.

Celtic just signed Kouassi Eboue... not sure what impact that has on their pursuit of Nagbe. Not effectively similar players but both are money on the books.

The league absolutely facilitates where DP's play, but it's a combo of cost and options of where the DP wants to play.

I highly doubt Blanco would choose Portland over Seattle..........this to me seems different, like the league REALLY wants that Nagbe transfer money so they're sweetening the pot for Portland by switching Blanco's destination from Seattle to Portland for roughly the same loan fees.

So the only difference here is the team it benefits? Because it certainly wanted its most dynamic US player at the time in the city with the largest crowd