What’s next for Sporting KC and its roster after moving on from Matt Besler
The entirety of the Sporting Kansas City fanbase is focused on one thing and one thing only right now: the departure of longtime captain Matt Besler.
And they have every right to be. To immediately move on from one of the greatest sporting icons to come out of Kansas City would be downright criminal at best. The fans deserve the opportunity to remember his impact on both Sporting KC and the growth of soccer in this city and come to terms with life without the hometown hero anchoring the backline.
But ultimately, the game moves on. Soccer moves on quicker than perhaps any other sport. Although Peter Vermes just wrapped up his final news conference of the 2020 season and the MLS Cup isn’t even being played until Saturday, the 2021 season is already just around the corner with a start date of early March.
That means preseason will be in February. If Sporting KC qualifies for the CONCACAF Champions League — U.S. Soccer is yet to determine which MLS teams will qualify for the 2021 iteration of the competition but KC is in the mix — that could mean a preseason that starts as early as January. That’s next month.
And that means that Vermes doesn’t have any time to hang around and mourn the loss of Besler or any of the other players that didn’t re-sign with Sporting KC for 2021. Contract negotiations are still ongoing with four other first-team players, meaning as of right now, only 20 players are under contract for Sporting KC.
Vermes has remained relatively close-lipped on what Sporting KC will be looking for transfer-wise heading into 2021. But there are holes in the squad and apparent and potential moves within the squad that can give some clues toward what to expect in the coming months.
Centerback depth
Besler isn’t the only centerback who Sporting KC is waving goodbye to in 2020 — or at least as things stand.
The club opted not to make Winston Reid’s loan move from West Ham United a permanent deal. It’s an understandable move, considering the 32-year-old is on a staggering £70,000 (about $93,000) per week deal with West Ham and Sporting KC was only paying approximately 15% of that in 2020. That 15% is a little over $14,000 a week and around $700,000 over the course of the season.
Peter Vermes would not disclose the reason why the club didn’t bring Reid to Children’s Mercy Park on a permanent basis, but his weekly salary is sure to be a big part of it. But Vermes also said that the door has not shut completely on Reid returning to Kansas City.
“The Winston Reid situation, we didn’t exercise the option for a very specific reason, but we will try and continue to have some type of discussions with West Ham and see if it’s feasible to still bring the player back,” Vermes said on Wednesday. “I can’t tell you that it will happen, I can’t tell you that it’s 100%, I can’t even tell you a percentage at this moment.”
Right now, the only feasible option would be if Reid takes a massive pay cut or if KC strikes up a similar deal with West Ham that sees Reid continue to get injury rehabilitation on loan in Kansas City through regular game time.
But if Reid doesn’t return, that leaves Kansas City with just three centerbacks on the roster: Roberto Puncec, Andreu Fontas and Graham Smith.
Even though Vermes would not pinpoint specific areas of the field the club needs to improve in, it’s absolutely paramount that KC finds at the very least replacements for Besler and Reid. Five centerbacks in a two centerback system would provide ample cover.
Whether the club goes out and finds a starting centerback to replace Reid or expects Fontas or Smith to step up into a starting spot alongside Puncec remains to be seen.
But if the club does want to buy a commanding centerback, they could have a designated spot open and ready to use…
Potential new designated player spot
One of the players who Sporting Kansas City is still negotiating with is designated player Felipe Gutierrez. The Chilean has been a designated player since 2018 and although he had an option in his contract for 2021, the club has opted to negotiate with him instead.
That means that, although not a certainty, the club could be looking to lower Gutierrez’s contract and open that DP spot.
Gutierrez missed the 2020 season after knee surgery in June. That’s a whole year paying a player DP money despite him not being on the pitch.
Of course, that’s not a slight against Gutierrez, these things happen. But there is absolutely no guarantee that he will get to the same kind of playing levels he reached in 2018 and 2019. And even if he does, having not played for a whole season, it could take up to a year to return to those levels of performance.
And so whether he either decides to leave for pastures new or stays in Kansas City on a non-DP contract, that means Sporting has the option to bring in a high-quality player.
That spot could very well go toward a center back to replace the outgoing Reid. There is little reason to use it along the forward line with Russell and Pulido occupying the other two DP spots. Sporting KC has plenty of options in midfield including Gianluca Busio, Gadi Kinda, and both Gutierrez and Roger Espinoza if they sign contract extensions.
The team also seems set in goal with Melia as well as at fullback with Graham Zusi and Amadou Dia. Centerback would be the sensible option.
Bringing in players from abroad
It may seem like a long time coming, but Major League Soccer is finally trending toward overseas players. Plenty of Americans still exist in the league, but the best of those are now going to Europe. Inversely, MLS clubs are beginning to look abroad toward foreign players who quickly become some of the best players in the league.
“I think it’s becoming harder and harder to acquire players internally and so a lot of times you have to look outside the league,” Vermes said.
All you have to do is look at Kansas City in recent years. The core of players down this past 10-year stretch — Melia, Besler, Espinoza and Zusi — have all been American-born or American-raised.
But the club’s top players now? Russell came from English side Derby County. Pulido was already established with Mexico’s Guadalajara. Kinda arrived from Israeli Premier League team Beitar Jerusalem while Gutierrez landed in Kansas City via Spanish side Real Betis.
As MLS has grown, with it has the competition for players inside the league. No longer are teams as willing to trade their best players within the league like any other American sports league. If a player is truly that good, he’ll go abroad to a foreign league, not to a direct challenger. No longer are guys like Benny Feilhaber or Ike Opara allowed to trade hands so easily in the league.
“It’s a constant battle to try to acquire and find players, good values that fit into the overall salary cap of a major league soccer team,” Vermes said.
Internally, Sporting KC has one of the best academy systems in the league. Guys like Jaylin Lindsey and Gianluca Busio have staked serious claims in the team in recent years, but players still take time to adapt.
Youngsters on the roster for next year such as Cam Duke and Wilson Harris can chip in, but it’s unrealistic to expect them to make an immediate impact. They’ll have to grow and wait their turn, just like Lindsey and Busio did before them.
Sporting Kansas City has a busy offseason ahead of it that’s still evolving based on ongoing contract negotiations, but the objective stays the same: To get a team ready for preseason in 2021.
This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 9:23 AM with the headline "What’s next for Sporting KC and its roster after moving on from Matt Besler ."