Offseason heats up as Sporting KC adds French midfielder as international-spot player
Sporting Kansas City accelerated what is expected to be a busy offseason Tuesday afternoon, announcing the signing of French midfielder Remi Walter.
Walter, 25, joins the club on a three-year deal through 2023, with an option for 2024, and will occupy an international roster spot. He arrives in Kansas City as a free agent after leaving Turkish first-division club Yeni Malatyaspor in the summer.
“Remi Walter is an experienced midfielder who will add quality to our team,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said. “We are happy to welcome him to Kansas City and look forward to his quick adaptation within our club.”
Walter offers a versatile option in the middle of the park for Kansas City. The left-footer is comfortable operating as both the No. 8 in central midfield or sitting deeper back at the No. 6.
Although he was brought in to primarily play as a defensive midfielder, Vermes said that he will appear in both of the central midfielder roles, too.
“He can play in all three of those positions, the two attacking and the number six,” Vermes said. “It helps us with the ability that a player can play in multiple positions, that’s an important thing for us.”
The midfielder also gives Vermes another reliable penalty-taker. Walter was often trusted with penalty kicks at Nice, most noticeably scoring from that spot in a 1-0 victory over Lyon in 2019.
“He’s a good passer of the ball, he’s very good in possession, he’s got a good engine on the field,” Vermes said. “He has the ability to ball win, he can give a final pass, he’s a well-rounded two-way midfielder that can go box-to-box. Everybody is looking for players like that.
Walter has spent much of his career in his native France, primarily with OGC Nice, amassing 74 French first-division appearances over a seven-year span. He has also featured in UEFA Europa League fixtures as well as the UEFA Champions League qualifying round.
He was coached in Nice under legendary French midfielder Patrick Vieira, who also coached Sporting KC winger Khiry Shelton with New York City FC.
He also spent time in the French second division with AS Nancy, the club that gave him his start in professional soccer.
Internationally, Walter has represented France at the 2012 UEFA U-17 Championship and in qualifying for the 2017 UEFA U-21 Championship. During his time with the youth squads, he played alongside some of the most well-known names in soccer, including Manchester City defenders Aymeric Laporte and Benjamin Mendy and Manchester United forward Anthony Martial.
Walter’s arrival in Kansas City means the club now has six confirmed midfielders for the 2021 season.
Negotiations also continue with midfielders Roger Espinoza and Felipe Gutierrez while Gianluca Busio continues to be linked to some of Europe’s largest clubs including Liverpool, Juventus and Fiorientina.
But Vermes said that Walter’s arrival isn’t intended to cover the potential loss of any of those players. In fact, Vermes said, the club had an eye on him last year when he was still playing in France.
“He wound up going to a different club overseas and it didn’t necessarily work out all that great there,” Vermes said. “And so we’ve kind of kept in touch and followed the situation, and that’s how we’ve kind of landed back onto it.”
This story was originally published December 22, 2020 at 2:23 PM with the headline "Offseason heats up as Sporting KC adds French midfielder as international-spot player."