Rumor: Sporting KC Tied to German Attacking Midfielder Sonny Kittel

The rumors just keep coming for Sporting Kansas City. After reports came out yesterday that Sporting KC were tied to Erik Thommy and William Agada, German outlet Bild (behind the paywall) is reporting that Sonny Kittel has interest from multiple Major League Soccer clubs.

Our sister site over at Black and Red United (D.C. United) have some additional reporting from The Athletic’s Pablo Mauer confirming D.C. United’s interest. Transfermarkt confirms SKC, DCU and Real Salt Lake are the teams reported to have interest from MLS.

A Transfer Fee Involved?

Kittel is under contract with his current club, Hamburger SV through the summer of 2023 so a move would likely require a transfer fee. The report has it listed at €1 million (approx. $1,040,805 USD), however, Transfermarkt says, (translated from German) “HSV [are] waving a small transfer fee for the Kittel, which was committed free of charge from Ingolstadt in 2019.”

Kittel did arrive on a free transfer from FC Ingolstadt, who play with Hamburger in the 2. Bundesliga (German second division), back in 2019. Obviously if the choice is between selling him to a club for a fee or letting him walk, it would make sense that HSV would want to get something for him to let him go a year early.

Positions and Fit

TM lists Kittel as primarily an attacking midfielder, a position Sporting KC essentially have no one at with Gadi Kinda out for the year. However, he’s also shown as being a winger, which is a position that lacks depth, but has solid starters in Johnny Russell and Daniel Salloi, as well as a potential future starter in Marinos Tzionis. The midfield seems to make a lot more sense, especially with Kinda out of contract after 2023 and players coming back from injuries are hardly a sure thing.

The Blue Testament will have more on Kittel soon, including a deeper dive into his statistics, highlight videos, injury history and more.