Rumor roundup: Pedro de la Vega’s transfer fee settled?

The Seattle Sounders will start reporting to preseason next week, but before they do that I wanted to do a little housekeeping in terms of various rumors and transactions that might not warrant their own story while still useful information to have.

Pedro de la Vega signing chugging along

The most notable move of this offseason has taken quite a bit longer to complete than most had anticipated, but all the indications I’ve seen and heard are that it’s still progressing in a positive direction.

The biggest news is that the two sides have agreed on a transfer fee, although the exact amount differs from source to source. In Argentina, it’s been reported at $7 million for 80% of his rights. The Athletic’s Tom Bogert said it’s going to be closer to $6 million. My reporting lends me to believe the final figure will be on the higher side of those two numbers, and the indication that I got was that we’re now at the point where lawyers are combing through the fine points of the agreement.

My expectation is that de la Vega should be in town some time before the end of next week to go through physicals, which is usually the last item before pen is literally put to paper on a contract. He’ll probably then head back to Argentina for an Olympic qualifying tournament and rejoin the Sounders for preseason shortly after they return from Spain in mid-February.