Yesterday I published a post about former Real Madrid player Guti Hernandez being linked to Sporting Kansas City and the possibility of that talk actually being true.
I wrote the piece for a few reasons: 1. Guti has been linked with an MLS move in the recent past, 2. Guti has specifically been linked with Sporting KC in the past 3. He's a Spaniard (Sporting CEO Robb Heinemann tweeted that Sporting KC have made an offer to a Spanish DP 4. Potentially, Guti would provide an upgrade in the midfield where the club is probably looking to upgrade. 5. Guti was unhappy at his current Turkish club (until they agreed to buy him out yesterday), and was looking for a change of club.
With all of that being said, I suppose I might not have made it clear that I wasn't writing that I thought the "Guti to KC" talk was a done deal. In fact, I mentioned in my post that I was probably wrong about it, but I felt like it was worth looking into because Guti was being linked with the team, and he would fit in at a position of need.
I do tend to agree with bloggers like Mike Kuhn of Down the Byline, and Charles Gooch of The Full 90; signing Guti would seem to go against the way Sporting KC go about their business. Sporting KC are a young, talented team that should be one of the best teams in MLS for years to come, and in all reality, like Kuhn and Gooch eluded to yesterday, the Spanish DP Heineman mentioned on twitter will probably be a younger player who we will be unfamiliar with.
However, I did feel that given Guti's situation with his Turkish club, the fact that Sporting were in negotiations with a Spanish DP, and the fact that Guti had previously been linked to a Kansas City move at least warranted the possibility that Guti could very well be the Spaniard Heinemann was referring to.
And as one of The Daily Wiz readers Eric Atcheson mentioned yesterday referring to the idea of Sporting signing an older player like Guti:
If SKC legitimately considers themselves to be in the top 3 or 4 teams in the entire league, then they absolutely should consider themselves to be in a win-now mode, especially since the skills of players like Bravo and Cesar, who were crucial in our regular season and playoff run respectively, could begin to go south at any time due to age.
That’s the whole point of making a win-now transaction—you’re not the best yet, but with a key transaction or two, you could match up well with the best.
It is a very fair point. For as young as Sporting KC are overall, two of the key players that helped the squad reach the Eastern Conference Final are over 31 years of age already. How many more years will Sporting KC have Omar Bravo, or Julio Cesar?
Anyways, at the moment we haven't heard much news about the "Spanish DP," except that Sporting KC are denying the Guti rumors, and that Guti himself appears to be somewhat of a chronic womanizer. Just follow his twitter. 99% of tweets are complimenting beautiful Spanish women.
As of right now, I'm taking Sporting KC on their word, which is a slight shame. The combination of Guti's and Zusi's hair in the Sporting KC midfield would be an amazing sight to behold.