Sporting KC
Rumor: RSL Inquired about Agada, Should Sporting KC Sell?
Tom Bogert is reporting Real Salt Lake “made calls” about William Agada and other strikers in Major League Soccer.
In a surprise move ahead of the 2025 MLS season, Real Salt Lake dealt Chicho Arango to the San Jose Earthquakes. That move came heels of a 17-goal season in Salt Lake for the Colombian forward. Despite his stellar output in goals, something went sour last year with Arango not scoring again after his July 6th goal against Atlanta United. That’s 12 straight games without a goal to end the season.
With a hole at center forward, apparently RSL have been making some calls. GiveMeSport’s Tom Bogert is reporting the club has made calls to several MLS teams to inquire about the availability of their forwards.
“Real Salt Lake called about Orlando’s Duncan McGuire, Vancouver’s Brian White, Kansas City’s [William] Agada and Minnesota’s Tani Oluwaseyi, sources say, with all approaches rebuffed to this point.”
Sources: Real Salt Lake looking both international and domestic for a center forward. Aim is to have one signed before end of window, hopefully soon.RSL have called around MLS about: Duncan McGuire, Brian White, Willy Agada and Tani Oluwaseyi.www.givemesport.com/mls-transfer…
— Tom Bogert (@tombogert.bsky.social) 2025-02-26T21:01:02.815Z
Despite everyone being turned down, it doesn’t mean a move for one of these players is off the board.
Should Sporting KC Sell Agada?
Since arriving in the summer of 2022, Willy Agada has been scoring goals at a pretty good clip for Sporting Kansas City. He has played 59 games (38 starts) for 3,376 league minutes. During that time, he’s scored 21 goals and added five assists.
His expected goals (xG) are even higher, putting up numbers in line with some of the top players in the league.
Despite this, Sporting KC swung a huge deal spending a $4 million transfer fee to acquire LA Galaxy striker Dejan Joveljic. Agada and Joveljic play the same spot and typically Sporting KC line up with only a single striker on the field.
Another factor is Agada’s contract expires at the end of the season. That means, he can sign a pre-contract with any team outside of Major League Soccer as early as this summer and leave at the conclusion of the season for no transfer fee. The MLS free agency rules are a little more complex and Agada wouldn’t qualify as a free agent since he doesn’t meet the five years of service requirement. However, he could still end up on another team through other mechanisms if KC can’t get him re-signed.
The question becomes, is Agada in Sporting KC’s long-term plans?
His output in front of goal almost certainly means he will want a raise over his $521,875 2024 guaranteed compensation. With Sporting KC signing Joveljic to a long-term deal through 2027 with an option for 2028, having two starting quality strikers might be a luxury the team cannot afford.
If Agada wants a raise and KC don’t want to give it to him, they should absolutely entertain offers to sell him. Selling him to a rival in Real Salt Lake may be a bridge too far. However, if the price rises high enough, it becomes harder and harder to say no.
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Sure, why hold him back. It’s obvious that Salt Lake City knows he’s not happy. Who would be with SKC’s current state of affairs.
Veremes and SKC are a train wreck.
Regular season we won 31 out of the last 103 games. How dare you? We’re trending upwards because PV said so. Duh.
I have no idea how you pulled so many down votes with your comment. I respect your opinion and it has validity. Stats don’t lie. Records don’t lie. We’re in mls purgatory.
I suspect it’s because he comments some version of the same thing in every single article and people are tired of it.
Add some analysis. Have a conversation. But otherwise, we know KCWookie wants PV gone. We get it.
Side note: I love the username. I’m a huge Star Wars nerd. I want to like you. But it’s like my Twitter, I’ve just muted the people that say to fire PV to every quote of his I post. Ownership has said they are going to give him time to rebuild. We’re 3 games in (in 7 days) and all the big signings arrived just before the season. Plus, Illig said he won’t fire a coach midyear. Let’s give it a few more weeks before we lose our minds.
I was with him last season. I refrain from saying fire PV on here weekly. It’s a tough situation. Club legend through and through. I feel he’s had plenty of time and not done enough with it.
Caleb Porter has won MLS cup as HC of two different clubs and coaches a third mls club now. Portland 15′, Columbus 20′. He now coaches the Revolution. Vanney has won two since then, again on two different squads. Toronto 17′ LAG 25′.
Brian Schmetzer two mls cups with the same team, Sounders. He’s still there and should be. 16′ and 19′ mls cups. Sounders are always dangerous under him. There hasn’t been a bad year with him at the helm.
I agree, let the year play out. It just started. Like you said, there will be no coach change during the season. Tonight is hopefully a home win and a step forward.
It’s totally ok to be upset with PV and the team. It’s ok to dislike Salloi. What’s obnoxious is posting about it in every single thread with no real analysis but just anger and hate. We’ve got a handful of people here who don’t have much to contribute other than negativity.
I’m not asking for people to be thrilled with our results. They suck. Listen to the podcasts – I’m not sunshine and roses. But the relentless negativity with nothing else added is exhausting to read.
I would say we sale if we can gain an international spot and some extra cash money. Even tho he has a hit XG, he has not been able to get the ball into the net. Also, it would give Mason T. a chance to show what he can do.
But this is interesting. I know B. White just signed an extension with Vancouver.
Of the players on the list, Agada feels like the only player that is potentially for sale. Unless the fee is ridiculous, and I doubt it is from RSL.
Yes, they should sell him. SKC has been, at best, uneven historically with guys who are nearing the end of their contracts who are probably worth something and with ownership having a history of closing up the wallet I would think they want as many mechanisms to acquire players as they can possibly get. Who cares if it’s a rival? He could end up there anyway with nothing to show for it. He’s obviously not who you’re banking on since you just signed Jovelic. He’s probably better than Toye, which is true, but if you’ve got an eye on a rebuild and the future you need to be able to get what you can get from guys that aren’t going to be focal points of that rebuild.
The only thing I’ll push back on is there is no clear path to RSL unless KC sell him there.
He can’t be a free agent. SKC can likely retain his rights by making a bonafide offer.
For me, the question is: is Agada happy with coming in the last 20 minutes of games? And is he productive for us in that role? Because that’s all he’s going to get barring an injury. I think he’s worth keeping around as a sub, and as a primary starter for congestion or injury. And is due a modest raise. Toye has not impressed me. Of course, if the offer gets to be ridiculous, then yes sell him for $3 million by all means.
It is easy to see why SKC brought in Joveljic despite Agada’s per game numbers. Agada is so mercurial. It feels like his 21 goals came almost entirely in 2 red hot stretches of a few games with just a couple of goals scored outside of those 2 stretches. When he is on he is charmed, everything just lands in his lap, but when he is off- woof, he misses sitters on the regular. You mention Arango ending last year on a cold streak, Agada only had 1 goal since last July himself. Which is all to say…I dunno, I still like him, he’s a fun, joyful player who clearly loves the game and they need that kind of presence in the locker room, but if the price is right I’d understand for sure.
Is he still joyful? I wonder because the guy that hugged PV after his 1st or 2nd goal doesn’t seem to show up any longer. He is subdued (maybe even frustrated/unhappy). I (probably unfairly) attribute this to PV demanding every player conform to his method exactly (Tzonis comes to mind). Instead of building the tactics around the talent on the team, PV seems to work pound that square peg into the round hole.
Again, most likely unfair, but my imagination runs wild when I see the way young players dramatically change after being at SKC for a while.
I say sell him. Use the money and international roster spot to go spend on a very good U22 wing.
It really doesn’t look like Peter has had much influence on his game to my eyes. Go watch the highlights of games in 2022 when he first got here. Like in that game against LA Galaxy in like August 2022 you’ll see virtually the exact same patterns, and problems, that exist today. He’s always been a guy that likes to play holdup and then run in behind to get on the end of things. He just stopped finishing. The first time I really remember him looking unhappy was when he missed that first PK and then went to take another and Thommy talked him off it, only to blow his attempt as well.
I was just thinking, “How many of Agada’s goals–after that first flourish when he was new to the club–have come as a late sub after 70 or 80 minutes when SKC is down at least two goals?” A lot of them feel, just from memory, that they were meaningless.
I mean, if SKC doesn’t have another striker lined up to sign I wouldn’t get rid of him yet because he is capable of poaching goals. I just wish he was a little more clinical.
If they can make a nice profit, yes. Otherwise, no. CF is like the only position on the roster where there is actual quality depth.
If they’re offering several million, then I feel like we have to entertain the idea, but anything less should be declined. Backup ST are not cheap and at just over $500K, Agada is a steal. Even if he gets a pay bump, remember that we were paying Khiry over $650k when he was the backup ST and he wasn’t producing anywhere near the level of Agada (not trying to open up Khiry hate, just pointing out data). The only reason I wouldn’t bring Agada back is if he wanted closer to a million, that’s too much for a backup.