The Transfer Window Closing Doesn’t Mean Signings Stop

With the end of the secondary transfer window closed way back on August 9th in Major League Soccer, most fans have given up hope that their team will find that next signing. Most people feel stuck until the season is over and the big moves of the offseason will fire back up.

Nowhere is that more true than with Sporting Kansas City fans. Many fans were hoping and praying for a Krisztian Nemeth signing. Instead he ended up with the New England Revolution, where he has yet to take the field.

I’m here to remind you, all hope is not lost. Now I wouldn’t get your hopes up, but signings will still happen (and have already happened) since the window closed. The MLS has revised their roster rules since I told you about this last year. Here is what is says about the transfer windows:

The registration windows - the dates between which MLS may request the transfer certificate of a player under contract in another country - are as follows:

- Primary Transfer Window: February 14 to May 8, 2017

- Secondary Transfer Window: July 10 to August 9, 2017

Notice the words “request the transfer certificate of a player under contract.” That’s the key. If a player is out of contract, there is no “transfer certificate” to worry about. The real date, which is rapidly approaching, is the Roster Freeze date of September 15, 2017. Clubs must then submit their 30-man roster which is locked until the day after MLS Cup (which happens on December 9th this year).

Obviously there had to be wiggle room with Sporting KC bringing in Gianluca Busio last week (catch more on the 2nd youngest MLS signing ever). Even with his signing, Sporting have two open roster spots. MLSsoccer.com actually has a fantastic breakdown of how that all works.

Now one of those two spots looks very likely to go to Kevin Parsemain. He would use up Sporting’s 8th and final international roster spot and one of two remaining senior roster spots. While the signing isn’t official, our own Site Manager Thad Bell has confirmed he’s practicing with the team. It seems like only a matter of time.

What kind of player could fill that 30th roster spot. The odds are against it being a world beater. Last year the team signed Benji Joya who was promptly cut before the 2017 season. He didn’t make a single appearance for the club in regular season play, though I thought he looked good in preseason at times.

If you look back to 2015 the club signed Jordi Quintilla (though that was technically during the last day of the window) and he went on to score the game winning goal of the 2015 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

In 2012 Oriol Rosell joined the club. While he would score a game-winning goal, he wouldn’t really become a big contributor until 2013. There were rumblings of more Barca B players making the move, but nothing has materialized.

Generally, players signed this late won’t make an impact. Busio almost surely won’t see the field this year and who knows after that. Parsemain has the potential to be a backup at center forward and his pace could lead to late game bursts to take advantage of tired defenders.

The team could probably use some midfield depth as Jimmy Medranda is the main reserve for Roger Espinoza and Benny Feilhaber. If anyone else gets signed, I have a hunch it’ll be a Swope Park Rangers player who would already be comfortable in the system.

The team feels really solid at this point and beyond Parsemain I wouldn’t expect anything. Sorry to get your hopes up.