Sporting KC Sign Swope Park Rangers Defender Amer Didic

Sporting Kansas City added to their defensive depth today, signing central defender Amer Didic from their USL affiliate, the Swope Park Rangers. Didic signed a one year deal with three option years. He becomes the third Rangers player to sign with Kansas City, joining Tyler Pasher and Adrian Zendejas, who were signed by the club in the offseason.

Didic was a stand out defender in his rookie year last year with the Rangers, appearing in 28 of the Rangers 30 league games and all for of their playoff games in route to the USL finals in 2016. For his play, Didic was a finalist for the league’s defender of the year and was a first team all league selection for the Rangers. He also made his debut for Sporting Kansas City last season, playing in three of the club’s four CONCACAF Champions League group games, starting all of them and playing the full 90 minutes.

This year started even better for Didic, who joined Sporting KC for the first portion of preseason training in Arizona before Swope Park opened up camp. Didic also earned his first national team call up as he and teammate Mark Anthony Gonzalez were called up to the Canadian under 23 team for a tournament in Qatar in March. Since his return to the Rangers, Didic has played every minute of the six games the Rangers have played.

The signing comes at a point where Kansas City really needs center back help heading into Saturday’s game against Minnesota United. The team is currently without center backs Matt Besler and Erik Palmer-Brown, who are both on national team duty with the US and the US U20 team respectively. That leaves Kansas City with just two center backs available in Kevin Ellis and Ike Opara, and Ellis missed last week’s game against Colorado with a quad injury that has him as questionable for this weekend’s game against Minnesota. If Ellis can’t go, Didic looks set to hop right into the starting 11 and partner Opara against Minnesota.