Rumor: Sporting KC Made Significant Offer for Israeli Midfielder

The rumors around Sporting Kansas City just keep swirling. It is silly season after all. Today brings us a rumor from Israel with a surprising amount of detail. The rumor is that Gadi Kinda (referred to as Capricorn Kinda in the story) is being sold to Sporting KC for $3.7 million. In addition, they report that he’ll make over half a million dollars (and then later they say half a million Euros) and he’s signed to a four year deal.

Four years is a pretty standard contract for a Designated Player signing, which Kinda would be based on the very large rumored transfer fee. There is room to add another DP since only Felipe Gutierrez and likely Alan Pulido will exceed the $1.5 million Targeted Allocation Money threshold.

Kinda currently plays for Beitar Jerusalem F.C. in the Israeli first division. He was sold to them for €1 million F.C. Ashdod last February. The story (the website is in Hebrew so I’m not sure what the site is actually called — walla.co.il) says that there was a clause in the transfer that Beitar Jerusalem couldn’t sell Kinda on again unless the fee was north of €2 million.

The story goes on to say that Kinda was held out of a game against Maccabi Tel Aviv on Monday with his sale pending. He did play in 15 straight games before the game against Maccabi Tel Aviv. That’s not an indication he’s going to SKC, but it could be one favoring him being sold. There is another story linking him to Celtic. Plus this story also says other MLS clubs are interested and that there is a bid from Europe. ‎

Fun fact: Apparently Daniel Salloi’s dad, Stephen Salloi, and new Sporting KC center back Roberto Puncec also played in the Israeli league.

Who is Gadi Kinda?

He is an Ethiopian born Israeli soccer player. He has played for F.C. Ashdod since 2011. He’s currently 25-years-old (26 in March) so he would have been a teen and likely in their youth setup. According to this bio he was born to Israeli parents in Ethiopia. He immigrated to Israel at the age of three and lost his father at age seven.

In 16 appearances in 2019-20 he has seven goals and four assists in 1,349 minutes. Kinda has an astonishing eight yellow cards in those 16 games. While he seems more dynamic, maybe SKC are going for that Roger Espinoza replacement.

He also has quite a few caps for the Israeli youth national team. He has features for the U-18s, U19s and U21 teams. He has 29 caps and three goals, though the most recent one was in August 2013 against Belgium. He has zero caps for the full national team.

His primary position seems to be attacking midfielder.

Also, it would appear his name is pronounced Gawd-E Ken-duh. To be fair, it’s kinda tough to tell (sorry... had to).

In this highlight package, which can obviously be misleading, he shows quite a bit. He has quite a few nice finishes. Lots of really nice passes to setup teammates. He appears very explosive and overall just fast. And he is very slick with the ball at his feet. If you can suffer through the music, it’s worth a watch.

When reading the comments on the rumor story a few stood out. One talked about “broken legs.” That could be about all the fouls he commits. In the highlight video he goes flying into a few challenges. Another says, “I know the team and he won’t last because he doesn’t have enough stamina to play in this league.” Peter Vermes does demand players to be Sporting Fit. He was subbed out quite a bit in the 15 lineups I looked at prior to the Maccabi Tel Aviv game this week.

Update 1/15/2020: There is lots of speculation that the $3.7 million number is inaccurate. Since the source is translated from Hebrew, it’s most definitely possible. The story alternates between US Dollars and Euros. Maybe it’s possible that the currency is also in Shekels. 3.7 million Shekels is about $1.07 million US. As with all rumors, take them with a grain of salt until we can get comments or confirmation from the team.