Sporting KC captain, 100 games played and new contract: Johnny Russell is here to stay
When Peter Vermes first started scouting Johnny Russell, he didn’t understand the full extent of what kind of player the Scotsman could be for Sporting Kansas City.
The Sporting KC coach simply wanted a player who’d immediately be able to man the right wing.
Vermes had been scouting Russell via video during the latter’s stint with English club Derby County. The coach was impressed by Russell’s ability to play on both sides, and especially by his penchant for cutting inside and shooting with his left foot.
Vermes calls Russell’s ability to dribble past players an “art.” Fittingly, he also describes Russell as an artist on the ball.
What Vermes didn’t expect, but what he’d soon come to learn, was that Russell is a natural born leader who could one day become the team’s captain.
“I didn’t know how great of a personality he has and the leadership qualities that I’m not sure he knew he had,” Vermes said Friday.
Those leadership qualities are more than apparent now.
The 31-year-old winger was anointed as the ninth primary captain in Sporting KC history this past offseason, and he played his 100th regular-season game for the club in September. On Thursday, he was rewarded with a new two-year contract through 2023, with an option for 2024.
The contract talks had been progressing for a while, Russell said following Sporting’s 2-1 loss to the Seattle Sounders last weekend. But neither side felt pressured to finalize a new deal. The team, and Russell, had landed upon a good relationship.
“I’m delighted to be here,” he said. “I’ve said plenty of times that I want to extend my stay here. So to do that, it’s massive for me.”
Russell, who’s also busy raising a family when he’s not roaming the pitch, followed a club legend’s footsteps in donning the special arm band. Matt Besler, the Overland Park native now playing for Austin FC, was Sporting’s previous captain.
Already a favorite in the Sporting KC locker room, Russell is lauded by teammates for his leadership now, much as Besler was during his lengthy and successful run in Kansas City.
Russell’s counterpart on the other wing, Daniel Salloi, said recently that one of Russell’s qualities is the way he wields a pre-game speech. Salloi described them as short; Russell, he said, “gets to the point and is hyped.”
Forward Khiry Shelton, who has seen minutes in seven of Sporting KC’s last eight games alongside Russell, added his own admiration Friday.
“As a friend and a teammate of his, he lightens the mood when it needs to be lightened,” Shelton said of Russell. “He also can get on players when he needs to, and he fills that leadership role perfectly.
“When he makes a play happen it trickles into the team and how we play. It’s amazing, what he does. I’m happy that he’s staying for longer and I’m excited.”
Russell was a pivotal part of the Derby County teams that constantly pushed for promotion to the English Premier League in the mid-2010s, featuring 205 times for the Rams across all competitions from 2013-18.
But by the latter stages of his time in the East Midlands of England, he wasn’t enjoying soccer as much. He needed a new challenge ... in America.
“I spoke so much that I came here for a change, to get a little bit of a spark back in my game that I felt was missing,” Russell said recently. “I just wasn’t enjoying myself when I was playing.”
The move to KC reignited that spark. Russell didn’t know what to expect in Major League Soccer, but so far he’s exceeded all expectations — including his own.
“I’ve had an amazing four years here. To get to 100 games is a privilege,” he said.
That number now stands at 103. And with at least another two seasons in KC assured now, pushing toward 200 seems reasonable, too.
“I’m delighted to extend my stay here,” Russell said, “and keep pushing to what the ultimate goal is, and that’s winning.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2021 at 4:42 PM with the headline "Sporting KC captain, 100 games played and new contract: Johnny Russell is here to stay."