Rumor: Sporting KC Interested in 24-year-old Peruvian Left Winger Rengifo

Diego Montalvan, of NBC and Telemundo, is reporting that Sporting Kansas City are interested in 24-year-old winger Sandro Rengifo out of Peru. He currently plays for Academia Deportiva Cantolao (AD Cantolao) of the Peruvian first division.

He is listed as primarily a left winger but he can play on the right and centrally as well. He is right footed, so while on the left he would be an inverted winger, in the style that Peter Vermes appears to prefer.

Sandro Alexis Rengifo Garcia has seven appearances this season with two assists. According to Transfermarkt he is out of contract at the end of the year so theoretically he can be signed to a pre-contract now and join Kansas City to start 2021 on a free transfer. Or, if both sides were so inclined, it’s not out of the question to pay a very small transfer fee to get the player immediately or for a team just to let a player walk for free.

A quick search for some highlights show that he’s pretty short, but looks relatively strong on the ball. He’s quick and good with his feet. His finishing doesn’t seem to quiet be there in the more recent video, but he definitely can score. He looks like more of a project than an immediate starter, but then again, who thought Gadi Kinda would like MLS on fire.

Looking further at Rengifo’s stats shows that he’s never made more than 14 appearances in a season, but that can be misleading as Peru does the Apertura and Clausura half-seasons like in Mexico’s Liga MX. So dating just back to 2018, Rengifo has 75 appearances, 13 goals and seven assists. Not bad numbers by any means.

What do you think? Worth a look? Good system fit? A position of need? Discuss in the comments and look for more from The Blue Testament on this and other players as information becomes available.