Peter Vermes has already endured one perfect roster storm this year as Sporting Kansas City's manager. Now, wearing his technical director's mantle, he's headed into another one.
Besides trying to assemble the club for 2015, with one of his stars out of contract (Aurelien Collin) and a former fan favorite wanting to come back from England (Roger Espinoza), Vermes also has to deal with next week's Dispersal Draft (Sporting KC pick 3rd), the entry of expansion teams Orlando City SC and New York City FC next season and – on top of that – a new collective bargaining agreement.
“It's the perfect storm for the most confusion ever,” Vermes told MLSsoccer.com by phone on Wednesday. “You've got a Dispersal Draft. You've got an Expansion Draft. You've got a Re-entry Draft Stage 1, Stage 2. You've got a Waiver Draft. There's just so much you've got to wade through, a lot of different things, and then you've got the SuperDraft.
“There's a lot to contemplate in trying to throw a team together. And when you throw the CBA in there, it's almost as if you have a lot of bombs in those other things, and then the CBA is the gasoline, and then the final lighting of the match is that all of this is going to come together. But all the changes that the league is going to make, or that the CBA is going to make, you may not be planning the correct way. That's a little scary, to be honest with you.”
Vermes received a master's-level course in making adjustments this past season, as a series of injuries and international absences thinned his roster and undid the club's hopes of repeating as MLS Cup champions.
And with two of his key defenders – right back Chance Myers and center back Ike Opara – coming off season-ending injuries, it's a scenario that presents another set of variables to consider. It's an important set, too, with MLS All-Star defender Collin out of contract and right back Igor Juliao facing a possible recall to Brazilian side Fluminense after spending nearly the entire season on loan in Kansas City.
“I still don't know what I'm going to get from guys like Ike and Chance,” Vermes said. “I don't know where they are. It's one thing to know where they are in rehab. It's another thing to know if and when they're going to get back to play. That's not just going to happen all of a sudden. So I've got to weigh that piece as well. Calculating the risk involved in that is a difficult one.”
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There's nothing new this week in Collin's situation or in that of Espinoza, the Wigan Athletic midfielder who has expressed an interest in returning to Kansas City but is still under contract to the English side. Vermes has said that Sporting are not interested in anything but a free transfer for the gritty Honduran international after he went to Wigan as a free agent following the 2012 season.
“If you're asking about specific players,” Vermes said, “I'm not going to have any answers for you, other than the fact that I'm still weighing through the protection list. I'm still weighing through the guys that we are deciding to bring back, guys that we're going to try to redo contracts with, guys that we're going to maybe look to move within the league – it's really just all of those decisions and how they intersect each other – and then the players that we've identified as targets, which ones we really feel that we can execute deals on.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
