Seattle Sounders general manager Garth Lagerwey pulled out some soap and water and proceeded to clean up the mess he made last Sunday before the Sounders game against LAFC after the teams Wednesday practice session at Starfire Sports Complex. Lagerwey spoke to Andrew Wiebe on Extra Time Live before the teams 1-0 loss to LAFC about how the Sounders ability to be one of the big spenders in MLS player acquisition is over and done with.
“”For us, we’ve got to be efficient,” Lagerwey explained .”I think the days of Seattle being the biggest spender in the league are probably behind us. And by the way, that’s a good thing. If you run in MLS, you want to be big in LA, you want to be big in New York, you want to be big in Toronto, you want to be big in Atlanta, you want to be big in these major, major markets. ”
Good intentions bad delivery due to the timing of message. The Seattle Sounders have always stood as the model expansion franchise in the MLS. The Sounders have made the playoffs since they joined MLS in 2009. The Sounders have been to the MLS title game two consecutive years with one title. All good if one is taking a stroll down memory lane.
The Sounders fan base is in no mood to stroll down memory lane at the moment. Rave Green Nation is a little tender these days. Why you ask? The Sounders are currently in the last place in the Western Conference, due to injuries and lack of concentration by players at critical moments in games. Forward Jordan Morris suffered a season-ending torn ACL injury in the teams 2-1 loss to Santa Tecla in Leg One of the team two-legged Round of 16 CONCACAF Champions League tournament.
Talk of bringing in reinforcements never materialized leaving the Sounders fan base feeling disappointed, confused and somewhat betrayed. On Wednesday Lagerwey met with the media and did his best to assure Rave Green Nation the Sounders are committed to winning and soaring with the eagles of the MLS.
“I totally understand why folks would get shaken by what I said,” Lagerwey said. “I shouldn’t have said it. “I screwed up. I said some things inarticulately,” he added. “I came to this club from [Real] Salt Lake because of the ambition of the club, because of the ambition of the Sounders, because of the 40-year legacy and all the things they’d done and I hoped they could do. So, if you look at the performance of the club far before me, it’s always been one of the best teams in the league. …There’s a lot of things that definitely aren’t about me and the club definitely has that ambition. They’ve historically been, at worst, in the top quarter of the league in spending and we will continue to be there going forward.”
Lagerwey went as far as guaranteeing Rave Green Nation the team will bring in a new player during the summer transfer window.
“We’re going to make an eight-figure investment this summer in a DP,” said Lagerwey. “And we’re going to try to bring in a second player as well and to be totally honest, we’ve had that plan since the first week of February.”
