Sporting Kansas City’s secondary transfer window priority

It was a fair consideration.

When Sporting Kansas City and longtime manager Peter Vermes parted ways after nearly 16 years of a rather intimate relationship, many felt his interim replacement – Vermes’ longtime assistant coach Kerry Zavagnin – would bring little more than the same ideas. Six wins and 22 points in 16 games under Zavagnin later, that understandable sentiment has been often proven wrong.

But the fear of a retread has also been validated.

The key question for Sporting Kansas City and its fans (especially those who have been, perhaps, wooed back) is: Where does SKC go from here, especially with a transfer window opening soon?

Expectations

Most of us are fortunate to be able to recall – often vividly and certainly fondly – 2012-2018:  the glory years of Sporting Kansas City. The runs to three US Open Cup titles and one MLS Cup Championship (along with topping their conference twice) were filled with spine-tingling moments. I mean, damn, I feel them right now. We all want Sporting Kansas City to again be that team… so earnestly want.

But it ain’t gonna happen anytime soon. Yet, there are moments when Manu Garcia moves the way he moves on the ball or Jansen Miller makes another goal-line clearance or Dejan Joveljic scores a beauty from combination play or just from nothing. The seeds are there. Aren’t Sporting just a few moves away from being a perennial contender again?

Yes – Woohoo!. Under Zavagnin’s clear alternative ways, Sporting has gone 6-6-4 for 22 points in MLS play, a far cry from 2-11-3 for 9 points in the last 16 matches under Vermes. Going further, under Zavagnin Kansas City has scored 29 goals in those matches (1.8125 per match); in Vermes’ last 16 it was 18 goals for.

No – Sorry. Under Zavagnin in 16 matches, Sporting has surrendered 29 goals (the same 1.8125 per match). Under Vermes’ last 16, it was also 29 goals against.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Results matter. But so do what leads to those results, the good and the not-so-good.

Up the gut; from the flanks

The roster changes led by Sporting Kansas City’s Sporting Director Mike Burns and Vermes before he left combined with acclimation time and Zavagnin’s influence have meant goals scored are up, as are wins. Goals win games – for Sporting and their opponents.

When asked about his philosophy on where scoring opportunities should come from on the field after Saturday night’s 3-2 home loss to Seattle Sounders, Zavagnin responded:

“[When] you bring new players into the mix, you have to put them in positions for them to be successful. I think we have a No. 10 in Manu Garcia that we haven’t had in a while, a true No. 10 that we need to find the ball to his feet more. And that’s through the central channels.”

In that vein, Zavagnin has most often stayed in a 4-3-3 formation using various tactics within, but he has also formed a 4-2-3-1, a 4-3-2-1, a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield to increase pressure on opponents up front. The more Garcia is on the ball and can connect with Joveljic, newly acquired forward/winger Santiago Munoz, and wingers Erik Thommy, Daniel Salloi, and Shapi Suleymanov, the better. However, the tried and mostly true tactic of creating space on and chances from the wings is still very much a thing. That is why it is four in the back 98% of the time.

“You have to be multifaceted, and for us to evolve as a club and be better as a club, we have to come in different ways, sometimes with wing play and sometimes through the middle,” continued Zavagnin.

What does this mean for the coming transfer window? And how does all of this impact defensive tactics?

Pieces

It is one of the great ironies of Sporting Kansas City’s historic penchant to look at the wide backs to push up high to provide width and dynamic attacking play while not having very good attacking wide backs. Strong attacking backs pin back the opposition’s wide players, forcing them to focus on defense. And defense is tiring.

Certainly, there are exceptions in Graham Zusi and arguably current left backs Logan Ndenbe and Tim Liebold. A case can also be made for sometimes right back Jake Davis. Yet, all of those fall short on the defensive side. Never have these two facets of the wide backs been consistently true in the play on both flanks for SKC:

• goal creation actions
• high quality of defensive positioning and one-on-one defending

Thus, signing a right back has to be the priority for Sporting Kansas City during the secondary transfer window that opens Thursday, July 24, 2025 and continues through Thursday, August 21, 2025.

Further need for a right back comes in the statement wrapped in a blanket and in truth – the right back currently gaining the most minutes provides nothing to very little going forward, while providing inconsistent awareness on the defensive end.

Why not a midfielder where Kansas City can use some depth? Agreed. But… Garcia, Nemanja Radoja (now back from injury), sometimes Thommy and Munoz, Memo Rodriguez, Zorhan Bassong, Jake Davis, and Jacob Bartlett make eight. A Designated Player level signing is what is needed here. Let the aforementioned battle it out to show their worthiness and their wares the rest of this rebuild season (and let the young Davis and Bartlett learn more) and know better what the team really needs in that area of the field.

Zavagnin focused on the value of Radoja after his second half appearance Saturday night: “We’ve missed him in the midfield in terms of the bite and the experience. So that was incredibly welcome, not just in that moment, but throughout the game in which in the first half I think we were a little shy in our confrontations and our duels. That in and of itself — forget about the tactics of the game — we just lacked aggression.”

The hope is that Bartlett, Bassong, and Davis see what Radoja can bring and take this to heart in a useful way and develop that necessary focused aggression in the face of an ever-improving MLS.

What about center back? It is a similar situation to midfield here. Jansen Miller is a rookie who can become a mainstay with experience and the sometimes hard lessons he is learning. Robert Voloder’s injury stings here as it would be revealing to see Voloder and Miller get large minutes together. Is Voloder the one? Dany Rosero is likely gone after this season and Joaquin Fernandez, though he has been mostly solid, does not possess the complete skillset Sporting needs in a left center back. Yes, center back is an issue.

Miller has received praise for his consistent goal (line) saving plays, but starting to see that his lack of speed to press out & recover is, in and of itself, allowing goal scoring opportunities

Now it appears he’s preemptively sagging to cover net which opens bubble behind

— Nathan Martin (@NMthenoise) July 13, 2025

However, if 17-year-old Ian James can get significant minutes the rest of the season instead of a signing coming in to steal those minutes, Sporting’s brass and James will learn a lot about the future. Then, armed with that knowledge, Mike Burns and Sporting Kansas City can make the right acquisition in the offseason. They will very possibly have a lot of flexibility to do so…

“the owners have committed, over the next four years, to giving us the largest budget we’ve ever had in our history.”   Peter Vermes from Four Major Takeaways from the Mike Burns Sporting Director Announcement – KC Soccer Journal

And Sporting Kansas City could have a lot of roster space to make moves as well – Sporting KC Can Free Up a Ton of Salary This Offseason – KC Soccer Journal

The next seven matches on Sporting Kansas City’s schedule will be a tough training ground as all seven opponents currently sit in playoff spots. Will the playoffs be a possibility after? Great if so, that is growth implemented. But if not, the inherit growth and lessons learned in this rebuild and the integration of a high-quality diverse right back in for the long haul will be well worth the journey.