Fresh off a career-best season in which he had 11 goals and 19 assists across all competitions, Albert Rusnák has re-signed with the Seattle Sounders and will remain a Designated Player, GM Craig Waibel confirmed on Wednesday. The Sounders also announced that all three of their DP spots are now filled, with Rusnák joining Pedro de la Vega and Jordan Morris, who hit an escalator clause in his contract to push him over the max-TAM threshold.
“We offered Albert a longer-term deal than he ended up signing, but he felt coming off his best year that he deserved Designated Player status,” Waibel told reporters. “I’ll be honest, that’s really hard to disagree with.”
While the Sounders had hoped to convince Rusnák to sign a deal that would have allowed them to buy him down from the DP spot, it’s not hard to understand why they ultimately were more concerned with just having him back.
Rusnák was among the most productive players in MLS last year, finishing with the third most assists (16) and the 11th most goal-contributions (26) in regular-season play. He was also in the 88th percentile for expected assists, the 83rd percentile for progressive passes, 92nd percentile for key passes and 91st percentile for goal-creating actions per 90 minutes. He was especially dangerous on set pieces, where he was in the 99th percentile for goal-creating passes.
Rusnák had 30 goal contributions across all competitions, which ranked only behind Obafemi Martins’ 34 in 2014.
Despite starting 2023 in a deeper-lying position, Rusnák is tied for 20th among all players for goals and assists in the regular season and playoffs over the past two seasons. Interestingly, he’s tied with Jordan Morris.
There’s a fair argument to make that re-signing Rusnák and elevating Morris lacks a certain “ambition,” and this does effectively close the door on bringing in another Designated Player this year. But these are DP numbers. At the end of this contract, Rusnák will still be just 32 years old. Morris will be 33 at the end of his deal. There’s no reason both players can’t continue to be very productive at least through those seasons.
“These are two players that, frankly, when you look at it statistically, when you look at it on paper and when you when you look at what they mean for the group, had some leverage, frankly,” Waibel said. “[Rusnak] will be a Designated Player and I love it. I love that Jordan and Albert earned the right to walk into my office and say, ‘I appreciate what you’re offering me, but I deserve X.’ And when you have guys that achieve on the field the way these guys have achieved and what they give to our club, those are wonderful problems to have and easy problems to solve.”
