Sporting KC: In Alan Pulido, Peter Vermes has special striker

For the first time in club history, Sporting KC opened their wallet. And in record signing Alan Pulido, Peter Vermes found a special striker.

Sporting Kansas City have never been big spenders. In fact, the very brilliance of head coach Peter Vermes is that he has been able to build a consistently competitive team without the spending power of many his rivals, especially as Major League Soccer has evolved in recent seasons.

But with that increased investment across the league, especially from the recent expansion teams like Los Angeles FC and Atlanta United, Sporting KC have had to play catch up. And Vermes was insistent on this.

After a disastrous 2019 in which his team slumped to second-last in the Western Conference, Vermes promised an ‘injection of capital’ in the offseason. Quite in what form it would come, no one really knew, but there was one position that all supporters wanted see investment more than any other: centre-forward.

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Sporting KC, on the request of Vermes, went and smashed their transfer record to sign the leading scorer from Liga MX. Alan Pulido cost more than any other fee that Sporting KC has paid for a player combined, which is a quite remarkable statistic. There was a lot of pressure on the Mexican to succeed and live up to his price tag. The early signs are extremely encouraging.

Pulido may have only played two matches prior to the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent postponement of MLS play, but he immediately displayed why he dominated Liga MX prior to his arrival in Kansas City.

His movement was superb, he understood how to lever his body away from defenders to create space for himself, the work-rate that Vermes praised prior to the season’s start was on full display, and he also proved his natural goalscoring knack, producing two nice finishes already. He also has one assist across the two matches, teeing Yadi Kinda with a burst to the byline and smart low cross into the penalty area.

Pulido is not a physical force. He is not that athletic. His game revolves around his smart body positioning, excellent technical skill, spatial awareness, and enough physicality to exploit the advantage that his mind and feet have already provided him with.

Just read how he has already diagnosed and analysed the difference in play from MLS to Liga MX:

"“Here’s the play is a little more vertical. You play more in attack. There are a lot of counter-attacks and a lot of back and forths. That’s why there are so many goals. I think that it’s the league with most goals in the world. The most goals happen in MLS. Teams are very attack-minded and teams try to win every game and they’re always looking for goals. In Mexico they’re more tactical and some teams come out to defend the 0-0 and try to not get scored on. It’s different from a tactical level. These are the differences I’ve noticed in the little time I’ve been here.”"

This is why Pulido has made such a fast start to life in MLS. And it is why he will enjoy quite the time at Sporting KC. He really is a special striker, and boy does Vermes know it.