For the first time in a long time I can confidentially say that a rumor linking Sporting KC with a foreign player may not be complete non-sense. Today an article was published on Univision Deportes linking Guatemalan U-20 World Cup player and former Virginia Commenwealth University midfielder Jose Carlos Castillo with Sporting Kansas City.
As normal, anytime you use an online translation service(i.e. google or bing) there are bound to be some unclear parts when switching from Spanish to English and this article is certainly no exception. But what is clear is that Jose is touring three different US clubs as part of a "testing" period in the MLS. Sporting Kansas City is his first stop while he will also visit D.C. United and the Columbus Crew in coming weeks.
But Jose's story is a little more intriguing than just a few trial periods in the MLS.
You see Castillo is/was part of the newly formed Bengal Premier Soccer League. As a newly developed league each team in the Southeastern Asian nation received $2.5 million US dollars to use on foreign players, of which a team was allowed only 4. Durgapor Vox Champions was the team that received Castillo in the auction for $80,000.
The young league is scheduled to begin in February of this year so the fact that Castillo is in the States after having already been bought by Durgapor is quite surprising.
Saving Money While Also Gaining Talent
If Peter Vermes likes what he sees from the 20 year old during his trial period he might consider snatching him up on a Designated Player contract. Since Castillo falls under the "20 years old and under" category, he would only count as a $150,000 dollar hit against Sporting KC's salary cap, as opposed to a regular DP that would take a hefty $250,000 dollars away from SKC's cap.
With this in mind, the young Guatemalan will be enticing to a number of clubs in the league.
Highlight Reel of Castillo