Chance Myers Leaves Sporting KC for the Portland Timbers

Sporting Kansas City have lost their second free agent of the offseason. On the heels of Jacob Peterson joining Atlanta United, Chance Myers will leave the only Major League Soccer club he has ever known to join the Portland Timbers. The Oregonian has the story and it is light on initial details. The length of the deal is unknown but one has to assume it’s for less than the $225,000 he played in KC for last season.

The writing has been on the wall for months for Myers. It’s arguable that he has been on his way out since Saad Abdul-Salaam made the starting right back job his last year (while Myers was dealing with injuries).

It was further cemented when Sporting KC brought back Igor Juliao. And just last week in the MLS SuperDraft, SKC used their first round choice on yet another right back, Colton Storm. It’s simply not possible in a league with such a low salary cap to pay your backup fullbacks anything near what Myers was making.

Depending on the wage that Myers is paid, the move could make a ton of sense for Portland. He is still just 29-years-old. If he has something left to give after all these injury shortened seasons, Portland could have gotten a gem. That is a big if.

Myers was a fan favorite in Kansas City since being taken as the first overall draft pick in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft. After becoming the regular starter in 2011 and arguably one of the best right backs in the league/country, he fell off sharply in 2014 when injuries started to derail his career. In the last three seasons he has just 31 regular season appearances (23 starts) of a possible 102 games.

However things turn out in Oregon, Myers will be missed, even if his best days were behind him. And of all the teams to go to, at least I don’t have a deep seeded hate for the Timbers (despite that double post situation) that I do for other Western Conference teams, like the Galaxy, Sounders or RSL.

Good luck Chance. Just not against KC.