The Seattle Sounders are fresh off their first-ever MLS Cup victory, but general manager Garth Lagerwey certainly hasnāt read that as a cue to take it easy this offseason.
The Sounders made their second notable move in two days on Friday, with the announcement they acquired longtime Houston Dynamo forwardWill Bruin in exchange for both targeted and general allocation money. Bruinās acquisition came on the heels of Thursdayās news that Seattle had landed midfielderHarry Shipp from the Montreal Impact.
Speaking with reporters on a Friday conference call, Lagerwey explained his rationale, saying that he believes both Bruin and Shipp will bolster a Sounders attack that lacked depth last season.
āWe really felt like we needed another scoring option up top,ā Lagerwey said. āWe felt like, despite winning the title, that we werenāt varied enough in our attack. And I think both of these guys are goal-dangerous players. ⦠That gives us a variety of options, a little more depth.
āThatās important, that weāre not going to stand pat. Weāre not going to be complacent about winning. Weāre going to try and improve our team.ā
Another factor that Lagerwey said drew him to both players was their ages and price tags. Shipp is just 25 and was a 2014 finalist for the MLS Rookie of the Year award as a member of his hometown Chicago Fire before he was traded to Montreal.
Bruin is a six-year veteran and a proven goalscorer in MLS, with 50 tallies over 178 appearances with the Dynamo. But heās still only 27, meaning he also fits in with Lagerweyās oft-stated goal of trying to gradually make Seattleās roster a younger one.
āWeāre excited about having these young guys, these goal-dangerous guys,ā Lagerwey said. āI think itās important that weāre continuing to get a little bit younger, which we need to do. Weāre excited about every aspect of these kids from a character perspective, from a profile perspective, from a position perspective. We believe weāre making our team better today.ā
Of course, the arrival of Bruin and Shipp also will likely come at the expense of some key faces from Seattleās 2016 title run.
Lagerwey said he thinks Shipp can play a similar role to that of 33-year-old midfielder Andreas Ivanschitz. Bruin, meanwhile, seems like a logical replacement for Paraguayan forward Nelson Valdez, who Lagerwey said is āunlikelyā to return next season after he was extended an offer to come back with a substantial pay cut.
āThese guys [Shipp and Bruin] are younger, cheaper alternatives to Andreas Ivanschitz and Nelson Valdez, as two examples. It makes it certainly more difficult for those guys to return,ā Lagerwey said.
āWeāre talking about guys who played lots of minutes over 18 months and into the playoffs. I canāt say enough about them and what theyāve added and to our culture. Weāre really grateful for all their contributions, whether they appear again in a Sounders uniform or not.ā