SEATTLE – The Sounders' party line in the wake of Designated Player Blaise Nkufo’s shock departure is that it was a mutual decision.
In the postmatch comments Tuesday night, Seattle brass opted to stay away from the details of the departure and instead focus on the Swiss striker’s past contributions.
In 2010, Nkufo scored five goals in 16 appearances, all of them coming in 11 league games. But in 2011, Nkufo hadn’t done much. He did not score in the preseason and looked disinterested at times in training. The man who had a statue built for him by FC Twente had begun to resemble just that: a statue.
“Blaise and I spoke a few days ago,” said head coach Sigi Schmid. “We went over different things. It was a mutual decision that it was probably good to move on.”
With Nkufo nowhere to be found after Tuesday’s 1-0 loss to the Galaxy, the reasons behind the move are still unclear, even to the striker’s teammates.
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“Nobody knows what’s gone on,” said Steve Zakuani. “That’s between [Nkufo and the club], so I can’t say to that degree. What I can say is that I appreciate what Blaise gave us.
“Blaise, first and foremost for me, is a good football player,” he added. “That’s the only way I can look at it. Seattle knows that. Adrian knows that. Sigi knows that. But at the end of the day, this club makes the decisions it has to make.”
General manager Adrian Hanauer, who took questions from reporters after the match, offered little insight into the club's decision to cut ties with Nkufo.
“Some of this will be left behind closed doors, but we sat down and it was mutual, as Sigi said,” Hanauer noted, adding that the decision was made with professionalism.
The timing of the announcement was obviously awkward – a press release was circulated about an hour before the scheduled kickoff. Hanauer confirmed that a move had to be made for the club to recoup some of the salary budget that had been allotted to Nkufo.
READ: Seattle cut ties with DP Nkufo
It was unclear when the decision to part ways was made, but Schmid said he knew for “a few days” that Nkufo wouldn’t start against LA. In his place, O'Brian White played well at times but struggled with his back to the goal. White did claim Seattle’s best chance on goal, just missing the far post off a cross from Zakuani.
In the wake of the Nkufo situation, it’s difficult not to draw parallels to the departure of the team’s first Designated Player, Freddie Ljungberg, who left in a 2010 midseason trade to Chicago. With Ljungberg in the team’s rearview, Seattle tore off an excellent run in the second half of the season.
It seems less likely that will happen in 2011. Nkufo’s departure leaves the Sounders dangerously short-handed up front in the near term. With Nate Jaqua and Mike Fucito injured, Schmid does not have any other proven goalscorers to call on beyond White and Montero.
Where Nkufo goes from here is uncertain. When asked about the player’s future, Hanauer candidly answered, “I don’t know.”
Notebook:
Hanauer flatly denied the suggestion that the move was motivated by the desire to sign Mauro Rosales, the Argentine who has been with Seattle for the past few weeks. However, he did reiterate his earlier comments that he’s very hopeful that the Morales signing will be completed in the near future.
“We open up a lot of cap space [by releasing Nkufo],” Hanauer said. “It gives us an opportunity to address other needs, whether we see them immediately or see them over the summer. It opens up another Designated Player spot for us, so it creates a lot of options.”
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