Two former Sporting KC goalkeepers selected by other teams in MLS Re-Entry Draft

Eric Kronberg and Andy Gruenebaum combined to start all but three MLS games for Sporting Kansas City this season. But both goalkeepers will head separate ways in 2015.

Kronberg was selected by the Montreal Impact with the first overall pick of the MLS Re-Entry Draft on Friday before San Jose scooped up Gruenebaum with the second pick.

Sporting KC declined contract options for both players last month. Those options will be automatically exercised with their new clubs, per MLS Re-Entry Draft rules.

Sporting KC did not select any players during the draft. The second stage of the Re-Entry process will take place Thursday.

Sporting KC has only one goalkeeper on its roster for 2015 — 21-year-old homegrown player Jon Kempin.

“I think we have some good targets, and we’re moving closer and closer to securing that position,” coach Peter Vermes said earlier this week. “But we want to make sure it’s somebody we think is going to be able to play at the style and level at which we want to play.”

Kronberg finished with a 7-8-5 record in his first stint as a starting MLS keeper, but his season was marred by a hand injury.

Gruenebaum took over after Kronberg’s midseason injury — he was 6-3-2 in 11 starts — but he relinquished the job back to Kronberg when he suffered an injury of his own in the final month of the regular season.

Vermes said the players’ injury woes factored into the club’s decision to decline their contract options.

This story was originally published December 12, 2014 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Two former Sporting KC goalkeepers selected by other teams in MLS Re-Entry Draft."