The news landed at half-time
Seattle were 1-0 down in Cincinnati on Saturday evening when word got out that the Sounders were finalising a deal for Dejan Joveljic. They ended up drawing 1-1. The timing said plenty about why they want him.
Seattle have scored 22 goals in 20 matches. Only one team in MLS has managed fewer, and that team is Sporting Kansas City, who happen to be the ones selling.
Joveljic, 27, is Sporting KC’s leading scorer. The reported fee is $6 million, cash for player, for a designated player.
Try it for $0.99.
An injury list, and a squad-building problem
Jordan Morris is out with a quad problem. Jesus Ferreira has a hamstring injury. Cristian Roldan is dealing with a quad as well. Pedro de la Vega, one of Seattle’s three designated players, has the same complaint.
To fit Joveljic in, the Sounders are reportedly renegotiating Albert Rusnak’s contract to free up a designated player slot. Seattle sit on 25 points from a 7-9-4 record, which is not where a club of their budget expects to be in late August.
A striker who has done this before
Joveljic scored 21 goals and added eight assists in 33 games as the LA Galaxy won MLS Cup in 2024. Kansas City paid $4 million to take him that winter, and he repaid it with 26 goals in 52 appearances, including a career-best 18 in 32 regular-season games last year. He has eight this season.
Sporting KC (4-13-3, 15 points) are bottom of the league and will reportedly convert the maximum $3 million of the fee into allocation money. They spent $18 million on winger Andre Luiz earlier this year and bought out Manu Garcia. Selling their top scorer opens a second designated player slot they now have to fill.
Discover the rest of our FOOTBALL news on MathODDS!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply