Sporting KC’s search for a striker scores in Serbia. Here’s who the club has signed
When Peter Vermes dropped the bombshell that Sporting KC would be without Alan Pulido for the 2022 season, the gears began turning in the minds of Sporting KC fans. Who could Sporting KC add to soften the blow?
The club’s front-office staff had been seeking that answer for a while.
Before news of Pulido’s injury broke, Sporting tried to add Robert Beric through the MLS Re-Entry Draft. The Slovenian forward had recently parted ways with the Chicago Fire. But the two sides could not come to an agreement on a contract, so Sporting’s search continued.
Kansas City was reportedly interested in Jozy Altidore, but he’s headed to the New England Revolution instead. Then it was Mexican star J.J. Macias, who was returning to North America after a disappointing loan in Spain. But that pursuit, too, came up empty-handed when Macias decided to stay with Chivas.
Well, Sporting KC’s long search ended this week in Serbia, as the team agreed to a season-long loan deal for Nikola Vujnoviic.
Vujnovic’s career path has taken him from Serbia to Villareal in Spain and to his home country of Montenegro. Since signing with Vozdovac in 2020, he has scored 16 goals and recorded three assists, including 10 goals in 21 appearances this season. He leaves the Serbian Superliga sitting fourth in the Golden Boot race.
The 25-year-old recently made the Montenegrin national team. He came up through the Montenegro youth national-team program. He scored his first international goal in November, heading home an equalizer in the 86th minute against The Netherlands in qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Now, although Vujnovic comes to Kansas City via a season-long loan, Sporting has an option to buy the player permanently after the 2022 season. He will occupy an international slot, likely the one that’s in the process of being freed up as Remi Walter gets his green card.
Vujnovic will likely rank behind Khiry Shelton on the Sporting depth chart, which shrank Monday evening when the club announced the waivers of Tyler Freeman and Grayson Barber. Freeman was signed as a homegrown in 2019 and never made an appearance with the first team. Barber had two starts and nine total appearances in 2021.
Sporting is less than two weeks away from its season opener at Eastern Conference juggernaut Atlanta United on Feb. 27. Sporting’s first home match is against the Houston Dynamo on March 5.
This story was originally published February 15, 2022 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Sporting KC’s search for a striker scores in Serbia. Here’s who the club has signed."