Analysis: Is Sporting KC in a rebuilding phase? Reloading with fresh legs, more likely
When Wilson Harris signed a contract with Kansas City Wednesday, he became the eighth player age 22 or younger on Sporting KC’s roster.
Meanwhile, veterans Matt Besler and Roger Espinoza have seen extended minutes on the bench for the first time in a long time. Graham Zusi is also sidelined for the rest of the season after undergoing successful foot surgery Wednesday.
All of this begs the question: Is this a rebuilding phase for Sporting KC?
Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes has a simple answer.
“Is it a rebuild? No,” Vermes said Thursday. “We’re just continuously retooling and right now we’re adding new tools to the team.”
Building on what Vermes had to say, there’s absolutely no reason to think that Sporting KC is anywhere near a rebuilding phase.
Even if you want to ignore the fact that Sporting Kansas City is one point behind the Western Conference lead and focus on last season’s disappointments, that’s clearly been proven a blip in normal programming.
Even last season’s team made it to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions League, setting up a tough year preceded by fatigue and injuries. The club’s eventual 11th-place Western Conference final standing has been followed up by a 2020 season in which Sporting has every right to shoot for an MLS Cup.
Yes, there have been problems this season; Late goals and blown leads accompanied by an inconsistent backline certainly haven’t helped matters.
But there are many signs, both with existing players and new ones, that Kansas City is far from a rebuild.
Goalkeeper Tim Melia, while 34, is looking as sharp as ever. Roberto Puncec appears set to start in defense for the next couple of years. There’s a multitude of young talent bursting through, too: Harris, Jaylin Lindsey, Gianluca Busio and Felipe Hernandez, to name a few. Johnny Russell is looking more and more comfortable as captain and the club of course broke its transfer-fee record to add 29-year-old Mexican star Alan Pulido.
This team, as Vermes put it, is quite simply retooling.
All the young guys coming through the ranks looks a lot like when Besler, Zusi and Espinoza arrived. When those young guys were coming up, fan favorites such as Davy Arnaud, Jimmy Conrad and Jack Jewsbury were approaching the end of their time in Kansas City.
Players age, the game moves on and teams must adapt.
“I don’t think we’re trying to build from being unsuccessful for so many years and we’re just constantly in this rebuild,” Vermes said. “I look at it as we’re constantly trying to get better. Are some of those guys coming toward the end of their careers? Sure.”
Lindsey has come in at the perfect time to eventually take the reins from Zusi at left back. Busio has emerged as one of the most exciting young talents America has to offer and can play anywhere from defensive midfield to left wing. They’re being followed by players like Hernandez, Harris and Cameron Duke, who all hope to make positions their own in coming years.
“The bottom line is the pro player pathway that we instilled years ago is starting to bear some of the fruit,” Vermes said.
Ultimately, the league is leaning toward younger players. A decade ago, a young talent was seen as a guy who was 20 — fresh off a college career, with little experience of the professional club experience.
Today? Youth dominates MLS.
Colorado’s 19-year-old Cole Bassett is one of the most exciting prospects in the league. The Philadelphia Union’s 20-year-old midfielder, Brendan Aaronson, has already taken MLS by storm and secured a trade to Austrian club Red Bull Salzberg in January 2021.
Weston McKennie didn’t even get a chance to play in MLS before being snapped away from FC Dallas by German side Schalke. Busio is garnering looks from Europe, with super teams Juventus and Barcelona rumored to be interested in him.
So no, Sporting Kansas City isn’t close to a rebuilding phase.
Youth is simply becoming more important in MLS, and Kansas City is simply ahead of the curve in producing quality first-team players at a vital time to take over from its aging veterans.
“There’s a lot of players that come through the system that get chances but never really make anything of it,” Vermes said. “And a lot of these young guys are doing well and doing a good job of it.”
This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Analysis: Is Sporting KC in a rebuilding phase? Reloading with fresh legs, more likely."