Why the KC Current, already in NWSL contention, retooled their roster this summer
The Kansas City Current ended a busy summer transfer window with a few new faces on the roster.
The NWSL club’s summer window started with the acquisition of center-back Alanna Cook from the Seattle Reign. Then came defender Kayla Sharples, acquired last week when KC sent goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz to Bay FC.
The Current traded forward Alexa Spaanstra to the Portland Thorns for financial considerations and waived goalkeeper Hope Hisey. Midfielder Claire Lavogez and center-back Lauren transferred to clubs in Spain.
The Current also added midfielder Jereko, forward Hilda Magia and goalkeeper Almuth Schult and closed out the transfer period by trading defender Hanna Glas to the Seattle Reign.
That’s a lot of moves for a team already in solid position to make a deep postseason run. So what gives?
In some cases, the player shipped out might’ve had better opportunities for playing time and development elsewhere. Such was the case for Spaanstra and Lauren.
“We’ve always said that if players are not happy, or if players feel that there is somewhere else that they can go and grow and develop, it’s our responsibility to support it,” Current coach Vlatko Andonovski explained. “Even though that means losing that player.”
KC’s roster makes this possible. The Current certainly have had one of the deepest lineups in the league this season. With that type of depth, it was inevitable that some players were a bit buried on KC’s depth chart.
Keeping everyone happy and well-paid can be difficult with a packed roster. While he didn’t explicitly say so, Andonovski hinted that some of the club’s outgoing moves put the team in a better financial situation.
“Some of the changes were made (to help players find new opportunities) and some of them are long-term changes for long-term team building,” Andonovski said. “We want to get better, and we want to win now. But we also have to think about next year and the year after that.”
As the team’s overall makeup changes, new relationships will form and playing styles will mesh. More immediately, however, there’s a losing streak to halt: The Current are coming off rare back-to-back NWSL losses after falling to the North Carolina Courage last weekend in Cary, N.C.
Andonovksi figures this is a moment in which his team will either strengthen or take a step backward. He’s confident it’ll be the former, not the latter.
“I think the mentality, the mindset of the team, is very clear of what they want to take from this moment,” he said. “(The players want) to get a little bit better, get a little tighter, get closer together and get out of this together.”
The Current will have a chance to halt that two-game skid at home Saturday against the expansion Utah Royals. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. Central Time at CPKC Stadium.
Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.