In a Surprising Move, Sporting Kansas City Trade Davy Arnaud to the Montreal Impact For.... Seth Sinovic

*I apologize if this post is a little.. here and there... I'm running on too little sleep, and way too much Jimmy Buffett - Justin

Talkin' Touches Podcast- Andy Edwards and Andrew Wiebe discuss the Arnaud / Sinovic trade.

In my post from a couple of days ago where I took a look at Sporting Kansas City's current roster and potential holes for the club to fill, I listed the left back position as one that needed to be looked into. Only a few days ago 2011 starting left back Seth Sinovic was selected by the Montreal Impact in this year's MLS Expansion Draft, presumably leaving Sporting Kansas City with no clear-cut choice to fill Sinovic's shoes. 

We also knew that Sporting KC were making a player signing announcement sometime early Monday afternoon, and a little after 1:30PM we found out just who would be filling Sinovic's left back spot. It will be none other than..... Seth Sinovic. 

Sporting Kansas City announced yesterday that they had agreed on a trade with the Montreal Impact that would send Sporting midfield veteran Davy Arnaud to Montreal in exchange for Sinovic, and allocation money. 

Now, I had seen a few people on twitter a couple of days ago bring up the idea that perhaps the new player signing would be Sporting bringing Sinovic back, but honestly, as much as I wanted that to be the case, I thought it was probably only wishful thinking. 

Looks like those people were spot on. The aspect I suppose almost none of us had a clue about was Davy Arnaud being traded. It never would have crossed my mind in a million years that Davy would be a part of any type of trade this off season. 

For a very good write up about Davy read James Starritt's post on The Sporting Times

As more than a few people have pointed out, Davy is Sporting KC head coach Peter Vermes' guy, which makes this move all the more surprising. Not the fact that we got Seth back, but that Arnaud was the one who was the trading piece. 

I definitely feel as if Vermes deserves some special praise with this particular trade. Vermes obviously thinks the world of Davy, and I'm sure it was gut wrenching for him to have to trade a player that has been so important to this organization. But at the end of the day, Vermes realized that this trade was better for the club in the long term, and I commend him for being able to take his own emotions out of the equation and make a move like this for the long term prospects of Sporting Kansas City. 

Anyways, looking at the deal I have to say I think Sporting got a pretty good bargain. Sinovic will probably cost the club around $42K in 2012. Consider Davy's wages which were $250K in 2011. Sporting cut over $200K in wages in the trade, and that's not counting the allocation money that Montreal will be giving KC as part of the deal. 

I understand that I am looking at this through a purely business viewpoint, and one can't discredit just how much Arnaud has meant to this franchise. I understand the sentiment of a lot of the Sporting fans who aren't exactly happy with the club trading a player with the history that Arnaud has in Kansas City, but at the end of the day this is a business, and it's Sporting management's job to make the club as competitive as possible for as long as possible. Bringing back a player like Sinovic, who's only 24 years old and could potentially fill the left back spot for Sporting for years to come makes a world of sense. It was the right move. 

So what does this all mean for Sporting KC roster-wise? Well, scratch "left back" off of potential holes for the club to fill. Between Sinovic, Michael Harrington, and eventually Kevin Ellis, the club should be just fine in that regard. 

However, with the loss of Arnaud, Sporting KC's midfield just got a bit thinner. I mentioned before that I feel almost completely confident that the designated player Sporting will be signing in January will be a central attacking midfielder, so that will obviously help fill the void of losing Arnaud. I also think that there's a good chance that Sporting's first round pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft could very well be a midfielder as well, although it's probably a bit early to be thinking about the draft at this point. 

Midfield depth and wing depth at the forward positions appear to be the big needs for the club at the moment. 

One more thing regarding the loss of Arnaud. One of the questions I've seen asked after the trade is "Who will Sporting KC's captain be now that Davy is gone?" 

I imagine Omar Bravo will be a prime candidate given the fact the was almost always the team captain when Davy wasn't on the pitch, but if I may, I'd like to nominate who I think the captain should be for next season........

Mr. Jimmy Nielsen. And speaking of Jimmy....

Jimmy Nielsen signs an extension with Sporting KC that will keep him with the club until 2013

Another busy, busy day for Sporting Kansas City as the Arnaud / Sinovic trade wasn't the only deal happening for the club. Sporting also announced that 2011 MVP Jimmy Nielsen has signed an extension with the club that will keep him in KC until 2013, and possibly 2014 as well. 

What can I say about this news? It's definitely a great thing to know Jimmy will be around for at least a couple more years. Nielsen has been very good for the club since coming to KC in 2010. There was speculation a while back that perhaps Jimmy would retire after the 2011 campaign. This should put those fears to rest for quite some time.