Former Liverpool Center Back Danny Wilson Linked to Sporting KC

From the same people that brought us the Leigh Griffiths rumor, the Daily Mail is now reporting that Danny Wilson of the Scottish Premiership club Rangers, has interest from Sporting Kansas City.

Wilson is a center back who will be out of contract in the summer so technically he could agree to a pre-contract at any time. While Wilson would represent a player of fairly high quality and Peter Vermes loves a free transfer, it’s his position that has to be questioned.

Sporting KC already have SIX center backs on their 30 man roster with their latest signing of Matthew Lewis to a Homegrown contract and they drafted a seventh in the first round of the SuperDraft. Lewis could probably be considered sixth or seventh on the depth chart behind Ike Opara, Matt Besler, Emiliano Amor, Amer Didic, James Musa and potentially Graham Smith (unsigned SuperDraft pick).

Something that could give this rumor just a little more credibility than the typical “draw a MLS team name out of the hat” approach from the Daily Mail in the past is that he is a left footed center back. That is a bit more rare and Wilson even has lined up at left back in the past.

That said, it still seems quite unlikely with SKC already investing heavily in Besler, Opara and Zusi on the back line and a potentially large transfer fee could be paid to acquire Amor at the end of his 2018 one-year loan. Then again, Besler and Zusi are out of contract after 2018.

Here is how the SKC roster looks 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.