On Friday, Goal.com's Ives Galarcep reported that US World Cup star Jermaine Jones was considering a move to MLS.
The midfielder spent last season with Turkish club Besiktas -- on loan from Bundesliga club Schalke 04 -- and is now a free agent. Several of the clubs mentioned in the report as potential MLS landing places include the Chicago Fire, Sporting Kansas City, and the two Los Angeles clubs.
Friday evening after Sporting KC's victory over the Portland Timbers, SKC head coach Peter Vermes said he had not had any contact with Jones.
“No, I have not talked to him by any means," Vermes said. "I know the league is talking to him and we’re kind of in the mix like any other team, but right now it’s not 100 percent. It’s somebody we would keep on our radar, but it’s not a decision that we’ve said, ‘Hey. This is the guy we want.’"
If Jones were to sign a deal with an MLS club, he would need to go through the league's Allocation Ranking process. Currently, Toronto FC are atop the ranking and would have the right of first refusal to sign Jones. For Sporting KC or any other club to acquire Jones, then, it would need to strike a deal with TFC.
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Vermes did admit that he is in the market this summer for a midfielder or two to help fill the gap left by the transfer of Uri Rosell and several longterm injuries.
“We’re looking at a lot of players at the moment," Vermes stated. "Like I said, we’re banged up. We have three players, two of which are season-ending injuries, probably even a little into next year. We have another guy that has a career-ending injury and then we have another eight guys that are out with injury, now nine. Then we have a few guys out on loan that we have to bring back. We definitely are looking for some players based on the injuries that we have and the ones that are the long-term ones. There’s a couple different areas of the field. Midfield is definitely a place.”
