The Seattle Sounders may have won two trophies and come one victory shy of reaching MLS Cup last season, but anyone who thought that meant they would be taking it easy at the 2015 MLS SuperDraft was certainly mistaken.
The Sounders made one of the biggest splashes of the draft Thursday in Philadelphia, engineering a trade with Real Salt Lake to move up and select highly-coveted University of Washington midfielder Cristian Roldan with the 16th-overall pick. However, new general manager Garth Lagerwey and head coach Sigi Schmid weren’t finished with what turned out to be a much busier draft day for the defending Supporters’ Shield champions than some may have thought.
Seattle used the rest of the draft to address even more roster needs, selecting Northwestern goalkeeper Tyler Miller with the 33rd overall pick after pulling off another trade with the New England Revolution that sent former Homegrown product Sean Okoli to the Revs. Then, with the 40th-overall pick, the Sounders took Oniel Fisher, a right back from University of New Mexico.
Speaking with MLSsoccer.com following the SuperDraft, Lagerwey discussed the selections of Miller and Fisher and the expectations the team has for their new draftees going forward.
Lagerwey said Miller, who skipped the MLS Player Combine, is currently training with a team in Germany and mulling the option of taking his game overseas but that the Sounders have been in contact with him and felt comfortable with the choice regardless of any uncertainty surrounding his decision on where he will play.
“Tyler Miller is the goalkeeper we had first on our board, and we believe he has the most upside,” Lagerwey said. “We needed to add a third goalkeeper. …With the loss of Josh Ford [to Orlando City] we felt that was really important. We feel like this kid could be a good long-term asset, and we think that’s true irrespective of whether he comes back [from Germany] now or not.”
The Fisher selection, Lagerwey said, was designed to add depth to a Seattle backline that took a hit after the sale of star right back DeAndre Yedlin to Tottenham Hotspur.
“We really wanted to have more than one body at that spot, and we thought Fisher was a guy who could be a good fit for us,” Lagerwey said. “If he doesn’t make the team, he’ll still be a good fit for (USL PRO reserve team) S2.”
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It would be unexpected if either Miller or Fisher made a serious push for regular minutes with Seattle’s first team, but Lagerwey said the Sounders now have more pieces to build a competitive S2 squad for their inaugural season.
“We’re stocking two teams, not just one,” Lagerwey said. “This first year it’s going to be more important than ever to make some good selections to start filling out those teams.”
