Sporting Sign Eighth Homegrown Player

Sporting Kansas City added another player to their roster today, signing another homegrown player, Matthew Lewis. The Kansas City native captained Sporting’s U18 academy team in the 2013-2014 season before moving on to Fordham University. At Fordham, Lewis was a four year starter, setting school records for starts and appearances.

This past season, Lewis helped lead the Rams to the College Cup quarterfinals before losing out to teammate Zach Wright and the University of North Carolina 2-1. Lewis helped Fordham to record 11 shutouts and earned the Atlantic 10’s Defensive Player of the Year this year.

Lewis joins what is becoming a crowded centerback group at Sporting where the club has added one player already and has a second they picked up in the first round of the draft. Currently the centerback situation is six deep for KC with starters Matt Besler and Ike Opara backed up by the recently acquired Emiliano Amor, returning Amer Didic, first round draft pick Graham Smith, and now Lewis. The number is up to seven if you include Kevin Ellis, but since he is not reporting to preseason and is still being shopped by the club, he isn’t included in any depth chart. The likelihood is that one or even two of these players will find themselves playing for the Swope Park Rangers in 2018.

Here is SKC’s roster as it stands today.

That’s 27 of 30 spots filled with four unsigned SuperDraft picks. This also shows four Designated Players but by the roster compliance date Sporting will have bought at least one down. Also, Kevin Ellis and Soony Saad are likely on their way out. Last, SportingKC.com no longer lists Ellis as a Homegrown player.