Dom Dwyer extends contract with Sporting KC

The fact that Sporting KC forward Dom Dwyer was signing a new contract has been known for a few days now. Robb Heineman announced that bit of info himself via twitter and then Dom tweeted a pic of him signing the documents.

Today Sporting KC made it official. They announced the contract extension and then Dwyer spoke with media via conference call from England.

Dwyer was happy to have the contract talks out of the way and focus on what he felt was most important. "I am very excited to commit my future to this club. It's a club that believed in me and drafted me. It's something I wanted to do and I'm very excited for it. It's nice to not have to be too concerned about that all stuff now and I can focus on what really matters and that's playing football, getting better and bringing some more championships to Kansas City."

There have been mentions of invitations to trial with other teams and Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes has admitted to receiving calls regarding the young forward. So why stay with Sporting Kansas City?

"It's a club with aspirations to win championships," Dwyer explained. "It's a club who's believed in me and shown more belief in me. It's somewhere I want to be. You see our stadium, you see the facilities, you see the coaches, the fans, the ownership groups, all the hard work that goes into the background of the club. It's a good place to be. It's going to be a more successful club in the future."

But was there interest from teams back home?

"Obviously there was interest," Dwyer admitted. "Tell them to back off right now. They (Sporting KC) have reiterated to me they want me here and it made me happy and made me want to be here."

The prolific Englishman could even see himself staying in MLS and Kansas City his whole career. "When I was growing up, my dream was always to play in England," Dwyer acknowledged. "That was always my dream. But as you get older, dreams change and if I can continue to have success in Kansas City and enjoy myself, and they continue to show faith in me and want me in the club, then I'm not ruling anything out."

New contract

MLS never reveals terms of the contract but sources have said that the salary was bumped significantly up from his base last season. The extension appears to be an extra year (and more money) on top of the remaining two years of his initial contract. Heineman mentioned in his tweet that Dom would be around for three years at least and Dywer confirmed it unintentionally when he said, "I've committed an extra year to the club."

Goals

Dwyer has set lofty goals for himself but he will not reveal exactly what all of those targets are. "I'm not going to tell you my secrets, I didn't tell you them last year."

And he didn't, at least until after the season. Dwyer set a club record with 22 goals and came in second in the league but that did not achieve his target. "Last year my target was 24. I was a bit short of that, but this year, you know me, it's going to be a bit more than that," he laughed. "Hopefully it's a record-setting season. I like to set my target high, so you guys can have a guess at the numbers and all that stuff. But really I want to win championships most importantly. To do that I'll need to achieve my goal. Hopefully they both come in quick succession to each together."

U.S. Soccer a factor also?

There has been speculation that Dwyer could be interested in switching to play for U.S. Soccer internationally and acknowledges that is a good reason to stay in MLS as well.

"I've heard rumors here and there, including conversations with my agent, that there's interest in U.S. camp," Dwyer stated. "That would be an amazing thing if my phone was to ever ring for that. It's something to be involved in and be in the league (MLS) for. I also think the league is going places as well. It's a place to definitely be in."

Focused and Determined, Time to get our trophy back! @sportingkc pic.twitter.com/JIiMDXXOsK

— Dom Dwyer (@Ddwyer14) December 16, 2014