Sporting KC signs two new players ... but plenty more are still needed

A little less than a month ago, Sporting KC president of soccer operations and general manager David Lee introduced new head coach Raphael Wicky to local media members. In that news conference, Lee said the team would need to sign “a double-digit number of players.”

With an announcement on Tuesday afternoon, the number of signings since that comment has grown from one to three.

Sporting KC announced the signings of two free-agent defenders, Wyatt Meyer and Jayden Reid. Both were part of the first leg of the preseason as trialists.

Both players are signed to one-year deals with options for the 2027 shortened season and the 2027-2028 season.

Reid and Meyer were cut loose from their respective clubs at the end of 2025. Meyer spent the 2025 season with Nashville SC, making eight appearances with the first team: six in MLS play and two en route to Nashville’s trophy-lifting run in the U.S. Open Cup.

Meyer, 25, is 6-2 and can play both as a center back and defensive midfielder.

Reid’s most recent club was Sporting’s fiercest rival, St. Louis City. Reid signed a contract in the summer of 2024 with options for 2025 and 2026. He made 24 appearances for St. Louis City over the past two seasons. St. Louis declined his option this offseason.

He has the opportunity to become the first player to have played for St. Louis City and Sporting KC.

With the additions, Sporting KC now has five defenders on the roster. That said, Jake Davis and Zorhan Bassong are listed as midfielders and can play as outside backs.

Whether that improves Sporting KC’s defense, which conceded 70 goals last season, remains to be seen.

Plenty of roster work left

The two additions bring Sporting KC’s roster up to 20 players, the max size of a match-day roster. There are still only 16 outfield players on the team’s roster. To name a full match-day roster, Sporting would need to “dress” all four goalkeepers.

Sporting KC will play its first official match on Feb. 21 in San Jose — less than three weeks from Tuesday.

That 20-player roster is smaller than Sporting’s already-small roster that ended the 2025 season in October. When SKC played its last game, it had 25 players under contract, 22 of whom were outfielders. That was one of the smallest rosters it had fielded in years.

Sporting would need to sign five outfield players just to get near that total in the next three weeks. To reach the double-digit mark laid out in early January, it would need to sign seven players.

With how slow the acquisition process has been, the likelihood of Sporting signing five, let alone seven, by the time the season starts feels low.

And if alarm bells aren’t ringing, they will be if more players aren’t added by the time Sporting departs the Coachella Valley Invitational and heads to San Jose to kick off the 2026 season.

Sporting begins Coachella Valley Invitational action on Saturday against Minnesota United. All Coachella Valley Invitational matches are available to watch at SportingKC.com/live.

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.

This story was originally published February 3, 2026 at 4:08 PM.