We’re joined this week by Niko Moreno (@ELROLONW on Twitter) editor at Pulso Sports Network and Sounder at Heart contributor. Niko’s connections to the scouting side of the soccer landscape as well as his relationships with players from all over the league lend an interesting perspective to the current off season of Major League Soccer. 

We start off by talking about the move of Sporting Director and VP of Soccer Chris Henderson to Inter Miami where he will take over a similar role for the second year expansion side. The Sounders will have a big hole to fill in their scouting department and we discuss the successes that Henderson had with player acquisitions over the years and who will be filling the void left by Henderson’s departure for the Sounders. Will there be a gap in talent coming to the Sounders as players divert to Miami? We speculate a bit on what the future holds.

But will we even have a MLS season this year? Thursday night saw the 30 day negotiating window set by the league expire after invoking the force majeure clause that was put into the CBA last summer before play returned last July. MLSPA sent their own offer to league that was rejected despite the concessions that players presented. The league has since extended the bargaining window by another week and has threatened a lock out of players if no agreement is reached. Despite the uncertainty, the Sounders have re-signed a couple of familiar faces from last season in Jimmy Medranda and Stef Cleveland. Federal Way native Kelyn Rowe was also announced as a new signing by the team, joining the Sounders as a free agent from the New England Revolution. How will these players affect the formations that the Sounders roll out in 2021? Are we going to see a return to a 4-4-2 or even a 3-5-2? 

Niko Moreno was able to get a candid interview with Nico Lodeiro, current captain and midfielder for the Sounders. The two discussed Lodeiro’s concerns about the state of the Sounders, Chris Henderson’s department, Jordin Morris’ move to the English Championship where he joined Swansea, and what 2021 looks like for the Sounders without the young winger. The conversation can be found on Sounder At Heart here: https://www.sounderatheart.com/2021/2/1/22259777/nicolas-lodeiro-reflects-on-jordan-morris-departure. We mix in a little roster speculation and where there might be some untapped areas for some prospective talent.

We finish the show with some listener questions collected from the Channel 253 member Slack and Twitter.

Pool Presser with Garth Lagerwey here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upANxZMkn7Y

Regular featured cast:

@muffintopmodel Tim Hamilton

@podfish Steve Ketelsen

@jm_murf John Murphy

@nate_bowling Nathan Bowling (emeritus & occasional)

@cm_peterson Cat Peterson (hiatus)

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