MLS: 3 winners of 2020 offseason
The 2020 MLS offseason is not over just yet, but it is nearing an end. With that in mind, here are the top three winners from the winter window thus far.
For Major League Soccer teams, the preparations for the looming 2020 season are drawing towards the final stretch. The new campaign is only a month away and while signings can be made until May 5th, rosters must be compliant with league rules by February 28th. Any serious team surgery will need to be done by then.
As such, with the closing stretch of the offseason now approaching, it is worth reflecting on the business that has been done thus far.
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With that in mind, here are the top three winners of the offseason thus far.
3. Sporting KC
At the start of the offseason, Peter Vermes said that Sporting Kansas City were going to invest heavily in their team like never before. It did not take long for him to make good on his promise, the usually hesitant Sporting KC signing Mexican centre-forward Alan Pulido in a club-record deal thought to be in the region $9-10 million. He cost more than all of Sporting KC’s transfers in their history combined.
Sporting KC have not made many other major moves beyond Pulido, but they are on this list for finally putting to bed the frustrations of their fans with the team’s failure to adequately address the striker position, something that Vermes always protested was not as big a problem as many argued.
In all reality, SKC overpaid for Pulido. But he is a proven goalscorer in Liga MX, notching 34 goals in 96 appearances since 2016 for C.D. Guadalajara, including being named the top goalscorer in the 2019 Apertura, tallying 12 times in 18 league games. If he can replicate that scoring form, Sporting KC will have automatically won the offseason. The rest of the team just needs to stay fit to challenge for a playoff place and potentially more. With Pulido in place, SKC are ready.