So on bluesky Doyle said he wouldn't be surprised if Cleveland became a decent starting GK in MLS. Not sure I find that reassuing. we'd have two "meh" starting keepers
I take everything Doyle says with a grain of salt at this point. Decent analysis, but he's wrong way more than he's right. I'm not saying Cleveland will be bad, I'm just not looking to Doyle for that assessment.
More than that, heading into 2026 we know we are at the same level we were in 2025 at GK, AM, Striker. Lwing and right CB (possibly Rwing and 8, as well). So, last place, and have decided not to upgrade at 5 (maybe 7) of 11 starting positions. Are upgrades at defensive wings, Dmid and one CB enough to elevate us into a top 6 or so type of team?
I think you're implication that Miller is the starting RCB is a stretch, and I definitely wouldn't think of the RW and 8 as not in the possibility of being upgraded. I put us at 4 tops returning starters.
On Feb, 22, 2026, which is just a bit more than two months from now, we play at San Jose. At this moment, we don't have a coach on the roster. We need a head man and his staff. Maybe they're now living in KC, but if not they're not in the office until we're right at two months to go. You're suggesting we have 4 returning starters. That means we're signing 7 starting caliber upgrades to our roster. Miller isn't up for it, fine. We have no defensive starters on the roster. We need four starters and depth. Davis isn't up for it, or a Davis/Basson tandem, aren't up for it? Fine, we have Manu in midfield. Elsewhere we need starters and depth. Jovelic and Salloi appear to be your other starters. Fine, we just need one starter and depth. But, I repeat, it is December 10 today. Player signings make little sense before the coach and staff are hired. This is not a good plan. Hence, I say, we're probably sticking with a couple more starters.
1. Just as a point, Sorensen's hire at Vancouver was announced 1/15/25. Not saying KC will have the same sort of season, but he was hired a month from now on a similar timeline a year ago. 2. International slots are finite in MLS, most of the roster is going to come from Americans, green card holders, etc. That means likely from within MLS. Windows to do player movement literally just opened, free agency began this afternoon. All I'm saying is chill.
Since SKC had originally said they were still negotiating with Santos. https://www.mediotiempo.com/futbol/liga-mx/atlas-sondeo-a-santiago-munoz-para-reforzar-su-delantera
FYI, while they brought in the manager a bit late, their team was already built, minus Muller, which is a huge add. That said, he was a hell of a find, wasn't he? And I don't know that anyone saw him coming as the guy who could do what he did. I would take someone like that, and would wait for a month for him to arrive
I hear echoes of PV whispering in the cold north KC wind. We're just 3 to 4 transfer windows away. Always only 3 to 4 transfer windows away.
Yeah the limbo we're in is wild. Leaving aside the eerily empty roster because not much can be done about that yet, or at least the mechanisms only very recently came online... We're still in the dark here about head coach, stadium sponsor, possibly who actually will be owning the team? Only reason I'm starting to sweat is because of how many players we'll need to hire domestically to avoid the international slot bottleneck. I'm seeing transfers - big transfers - going on within the league, and that's after the FA list has been provided. We just have so much ground to make up so it's a little extra tough still not hearing much meaningful noise from our camp.
Doyle, on SKC topping the list of teams to watch in the coming transfer period: "Nobody in the league (other than maybe Toronto FC) has more room to work with this winter than Sporting KC, not just in terms of salary-cap space but in terms of premium roster slots. New CSO David Lee has four to use, which means he’s going to get the chance to mold this team to his liking in his very first window." So, he doens't really give much insight into who or what. But he likes the new keep, Cleveland
Considering Lee said in the introductory press conference that they don't plan to fill the 3rd DP slot. It feels more like an instance of "hey these guys have a lot of roster space, keep an eye on them" instead of some actual analysis.
I wish we had potential. right now, we've got the potential to have potential. We don't actually have it at this point. As noted, we'd be starting several keepers
Okay, so in the superdraft. We might be able to find a max of two players who might make a difference for the first team, if history is our guide (though if our history is our guide, closer to zero). With the number 4 pick, we should find someone we want. I have no knowledge of the college game these days. I read a bit, and Markovic is generation adidas and sounds like a maybe, the potential to be a solid bench option, spot starter. Though I wonder if he has a green card (Canadian)? And/or either a left or a right back, for depth and there are enough highly rated in this roles that someone will be around in round 2.
There's a match scheduled in Coachella on Feb 7. Seven weeks away. Still no coach and no players. Season has been over for 2 months. Only accomplishment is the CSO. Maybe it wasn't all Peter's fault.
Obviously, the new head coach won't be involved in the draft. We are in more need on defense, with one potential starter out of 4 kind of definite spots, that we probably can't go wrong in that direction. But this is a long-ish coach search. Are people turning us down?
No reason at all to believe that. That's the sort of thing that would leak out to the league talking heads.
1st round GA draft pick. With the No. 4 pick in the 2025 MLS #SuperDraft, @SportingKC select midfielder Kwaku Agyabeng out of @ClemsonMSoccer. pic.twitter.com/BwcxxXivCu— Major League Soccer (@MLS) December 18, 2025
And KC trade back in. With the No. 19 pick in the 2025 MLS #SuperDraft, @SportingKC select defender Nikos Clarke-Tosczak out of @PortlandMSOC. pic.twitter.com/x4JrJqHXOm— Major League Soccer (@MLS) December 18, 2025
With the 34th pick of the MLS #SuperDraft 2026, #SportingKC selects forward Sadam Masereka from @MarylandMSoccer. pic.twitter.com/7dshVBi5oF— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) December 18, 2025