Sometimes, a player just needs a fresh start.
Jesús Ferreira has spent most of his life in Texas, moving there as a child after his father David joined FC Dallas and eventually won an MLS MVP award. Ferreira came up through the club’s storied youth ranks and became one of the youngest players to ever sign a first-team contract with FC Dallas.
In many ways, he was the paragon of FC Dallas’ developmental pipeline. Before he was even 22, he had already signed a Young Designated Player contract, had started in a knockout World Cup match and was already one of the most accomplished MLS academy players in league history.
His 2023 season was following that upward trajectory, too. Through the first half of the season, he had scored 11 goals and rode that momentum into the Concacaf Gold Cup. There he scored seven goals in five games, including back-to-back hat tricks in the group stage and the USMNT’s only goal in a shootout loss to Panama in the semifinals.
The loss marked the first time since 2015 that the United States failed to at least make the Gold Cup final, and with no third-place game, it was the first time since 2000 that they didn’t even play for a medal. Although he was probably the USMNT’s best player in the tournament, he also sort of became the poster child for a disappointing team performance.
Whether it was a hangover from that tournament, persistent injuries or something else, Ferreira never seemed to be quite the same player. Last offseason, an eight-figure transfer to Spartak Moscow fell through when the league nixed the deal (for understandable reasons) and apparently another transfer fell through as well.
For all intents and purposes, 2024 was a lost season. A nagging abdominal injury never seemed to fully heal, Ferreira missed about a third of the season and he finished with just five goals and six assists, his worst output since the Covid-shortened season of 2020.
Ferreira knew it was time for change.
To hear him tell it, playing for a club like the Seattle Sounders is exactly what he needs at this point in his career.
“I love competing, and so when a team comes like Seattle that are always competing, it was easy to pick,” Ferreira told reporters at his introductory press conference on Wednesday. “I’m super excited to be able to go out there with a team that’s going to compete in different competitions, and always compete for trophies.”
Making the decision a little bit easier for Ferreira was his existing relationship with Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan, having spent plenty of time with them at various USMNT camps and the 2022 World Cup.
Beyond conversations with his new teammates, he said the Sounders’ reputation as a quality club with a good culture made it a good fit.
In fact, Ferreira was so interested in making the move happen that he made the almost unprecedented decision to accept a significant pay cut to facilitate the move. Ferreira made more than $2.2 million last year. Even if he wasn’t due a raise, he needed to accept a contract that pays him nearly $500,000 less in order to get off his Designated Player tag.
As part of that agreement, the Sounders also included a clause that would return Ferreira to DP status if he hits certain goal-contribution metrics over a two-year stretch. In other words, if Ferreira returns to DP form, he’ll be paid like one.
“It was a situation where I wanted a new challenge,” Ferreira said. “I want to grow. Do I want to experience new things or do I want to stay comfortable? That’s not what I wanted. I wanted to challenge myself, to go to a new city, go to a new club, learn about new people. That’s kind of how I think about life.
“Did I consider it a strain because of my contract? Yeah. But at the end of the day that’s not why I play soccer.”
The Sounders have never been short on players who have been primarily driven by winning. But in Ferreira, Sounders GM Craig Waibel sees some characteristics that were sometimes in short supply.
Primarily, Waibel was attracted to Ferreira’s goal-scoring record. Even including last year’s substandard performance, Ferreira is averaging .68 goals+assists per 90 minutes over the last four seasons. For comparison’s sake, Raúl Ruidíaz only eclipsed that number twice in seven seasons with the Sounders; Clint Dempsey never had a four-year stretch with the Sounders where he produced at that level; and it would have been a top 30 mark in MLS last season.
But Waibel was also intrigued by Ferreira’s edge. A good example of that came in 2023 in a road match against Austin FC. Ferreira got played in behind the defense in the 89th minute and slotted his shot through the legs of goalkeeper Brad Stuver. He celebrated by ripping off his shirt, turning it around and holding it up in front of the Austin supporters’ section as boos rained down.
“You’ve seen he’s very humble as he’s shown in his interview today,” Waibel said during the press conference. “At the same time, he’s full of fire. One of the things that I did touch on as well was we needed a player that still had something to prove.
“We needed a player that frankly makes us a little less kind and nice.”
As much attitude as Ferreira may bring on the pitch, he seems like a player who is eager to fit in with his new teammates. Although Ferreira has played primarily as a No. 9 in Dallas, he said he is willing to play wherever he was needed and acknowledged that playing time can not be taken for granted.
“I’m just another player who is fighting for minutes,” Ferreira said. “I’m super excited to to get to know the system, what formation, what position and to play alongside all the guys.
“I’m very excited to to get to know everybody and get to know them on a more personal level to be able to perform the best way possible on the field.”
