RENTON — This was not a press conference that Craig Waibel was looking forward to giving.
The summer transfer window had just closed about 12 hours earlier and the Seattle Sounders sat it out, again. The Sounders were just one of four MLS teams not to make any incoming moves this window and one of just two not to make any moves at all. It was the third straight summer the Sounders had failed to make a signing from outside the organization, a likely unprecedented occurrence in the modern history of MLS. Waibel has now been the man who oversaw that twice.
During Thursday’s press conference, Waibel called it the “the most exhausting transfer window” he’d ever experienced, insisted the Sounders reached out to multiple players, inquired with numerous teams about potential trades and ultimately came up empty.
He offered rationales for why nothing got done, primarily that the Sounders were only interested in bringing in players who they were confident would be contributors and potentially even starters. They weren’t interested in simply bolstering their depth or making a move just to say they did something.
Armed primarily with the salary cap space they saved when they traded Xavier Arreaga to the New England Revolution — a little less than $700,000 all-in — the Sounders pursued players like Croatian winger Dario Spikic and Japanese attacker Takuma Asano.
“We knew we were chasing players who were a bit beyond what we had available financially,” Waibel said. “But we were trying to bring them into what would have been a remarkable situation for us, to get these high-profile players beyond the money we had. In the end, it didn’t work out with several players but we’re still in contact with several of them and I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them ends up here in the winter.”
While admitting he was frustrated that the Sounders weren’t able to get any those signings finalized, Waibel said he believed in a roster that had gone 14-4-5 across all competitions over the past few months and is just one of two teams — along with LAFC — to be in a playoff spot, is through to the Leagues Cup quarterfinals and has advanced to the U.S. Open Cup semifinals. He attempted to balance that reality with the frustration just about everyone from front office personnel to fans is currently feeling about a fruitless transfer window.
“This is not me sitting in front of you guys and saying ‘We’re stoked not to sign a player and not bringing someone in,’” he said. “It’s not me celebrating the fact that we didn’t get one of these guys who’s a little outside our of our financial grasp to come here for a little bit less. It’s just acknowledging that we weren’t going to compromise for the sake of the locker room, for the sake of the staff and also for the sake of the fans. We’re not going to compromise and bring someone in who they’re not going to watch play soccer.”
Here are some of the main takeaways from the half-hour session with reporters:
