Sporting Kansas City manager Peter Vermes is meticulous when it comes to the international players who will form part of his roster. The limited number of international slots on a club’s squad places a high priority on making the right choices.
Take, for example, former Ecuadorean international Franklin Salas, who was in for a trial but has since been sent back home.
“Salas is gone – we released him,” Vermes said on a media teleconference call on Wednesday. “He doesn’t necessarily fit what we’re looking for.”
The Sporting manager had hinted at the player’s struggles last weekend after his participation in a training match against the Columbus Crew.
WATCH: Vermes reports on Sporting's intrasquad scrimmage in Arizona
“I think he is definitely more of an attacking player who likes to come inside,” Vermes said last weekend. “It’s a little different for him playing in our system because of what we require and the team he comes from [Liga Deportiva de Quito in Ecuador]. He’s having a little bit of a rough time with the physicality and speed of the game, which is how it tends to be with foreign players.”
[inline_node:328040]Sporting have a total of nine available spots for players who do not count as US domestics (i.e. hold a green card or US citizenship). Five of those nine slots are already occupied, leaving four that can be filled.
“With all teams in the league, the international slots are pretty valuable,” Vermes said on Wednesday. “[Salas] just didn’t seem like he was a guy who was going to be able to hold one of those spots. We wanted to be very selective about who we take in those positions.”
One player that Sporting Kansas City wanted to bring into the fold was Portuguese attacking midfielder Rui Miguel. The MLS club had a deal to acquire the Vitória Guimarães player from the Portuguese club, but the negotiations fell apart at the last minute.
“We had an agreement done with the player and with the club and at the last second they tried to throw in a humungous loan fee, and there was no way we could do it,” Vermes said.
Reports from Portugal indicate that figure to be at one million euros. Now Vitória are is reportedly shopping their No. 10 in Russia, with Ruud Gullit’s Terek Grozny a possible destination.
Despite passing on Salas and missing out on Rui Miguel, Sporting Kansas City will not be ending their global search any time soon. Vermes says the club has “quite a few guys lined up right now.”
The manager indicated that there are anywhere from six to 10 roster spots that are currently up in the air. According to him, the new faces making the strongest case for themselves are Daneil Cyrus, Scott Lorenz, draftee C.J. Sapong and academy product Kevin Ellis. Vermes confirmed that the first two players are on the club’s Discovery list.
While evaluations continue with regards to trialists, the club looks forward to getting some of its regulars back to full health. Craig Rocastle and Shavar Thomas are two players who may see action in matches scheduled this weekend. Meanwhile, Ryan Smith continues to rehabilitate back in Kansas City and will join the team on its second trip to Arizona.
In the meantime, the preseason experimenting is just beginning in Phoenix.
“We’re five weeks out before the first game,” Vermes said. “We’re just now starting to play with different positions and systems. We haven’t for sure said we’re going to play a 4-3-3. … I won’t be married to just one way of playing.”
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