TBT: Remember when Sporting KC tried to Sign Romain Alessandrini?

Occasionally we like to get in on internet trends and one of my favorites is a little Throwback Thursday. I have a terrible memory at times though, so we won’t go too far back. Just to the summer of 2016.

You may not remember, but Sporting Kansas City tried to sign winger Romand Alessandrini for a massive transfer fee. Based on conversion rates at the time, it would have amounted to $6.1 million between transfer fees and salary.

At the time Alessandrini played for Ligue 1 side Marseille, and according to a story that came out later, was also in negotiations with the LA Galaxy. Ultimately Los Angeles spent more than a year courting Alessandrini and won him over in the end. At the moment, it seems like he made the wrong choice as LA are floundering outside the playoff picture while Sporting KC have a 98% chance of making the playoffs.

If the deal would have gone through it would have likely been one of the largest transfer fees ever paid by SKC and he would have been by far the highest paid player on the club. He ultimately transferred to the Galaxy and is making just under $2 million. That’s more than double what Roger Espinoza, Sporting KC’s highest paid player, makes.

It’s hard to argue he wouldn’t be worth it too. He already has eight goals and eight assists despite playing alongside players like Gyasi Zardes who can’t seem to score at all.

If Alessandrini had come in it’s almost a sure thing Sporting wouldn’t go on to pay a transfer fee for Gerso Fernandes as well. He would join this past winter, and while not contributing at the same level, has seven goals (the teams highest scorer) and an assist. Or maybe Sporting them both and are an unstoppable scoring machine. But then the kids (Latif Blessing and Daniel Salloi) wouldn’t be getting their minutes.

I guess we’ll never know.