TUKWILA, Wash. — Adrian Hanauer has been around professional soccer long enough that he knows not to count on any signing until the ink is dry on the contract.
With that caveat, the Seattle Sounders GM and part owner made it clear the team is hoping to make some additions before the summer transfer window closes on Aug. 8.
“We are actively pursuing a couple of different angles,” Hanauer told reporters following Friday’s training session. “But as you guys know by now, it’ll be done when it’s really done — signed, sealed and delivered.
“I’ve been doing this enough to know that if you’re too confident in this stuff it’ll fall apart on you. I’m hopeful that we’ll get something done, but I think ‘confident’ is a little too aggressive of an adjective.”
The decision to waive Sammy Ochoa on Wednesday was at least tangentially related to these possible additions, with Hanauer explaining that the move did free up a roster spot and cleared some salary-cap space. Although the vast majority of MLS contracts become guaranteed on July 1, teams are allowed to sign one player to a 30-day contract at that point. Those players salary comes off the books at the end of that period.
Hanauer also shed some light on the Fredy Montero transaction. The deal was announced by the Sounders as a loan, but it has been portrayed more as a full transfer to Sporting CP in the Portuguese media.
“From a practical standpoint, we’re thinking of it as a transfer, but from the technical standpoint, it was structured as a loan,” Hanauer said.
Although there’s no direct effect on whether or not allocation money the Sounders receive allocation money from the league -- and either way it wouldn’t be available for this transfer window -- Hanauer said that part of the deal is still be worked out by the league.
“It doesn’t close the book,” he said. “I still think it remains unlikely, but again it’s a nuance of the rules within MLS that really hasn’t been covered, quite frankly, in the past. And so I don’t think anyone is closing the book, but it still requires a little more conversation.”
