Sporting KC
10 Games Left: These Sporting KC Players are Fighting for a Job
A massive 18 players can be moved on from this offseason. Sporting Kansas City have a lot of decisions to make in the coming months.
18 players. That’s how many men on the Sporting Kansas City roster are either out of contract, at the end of a loan, or have an option the team has to decide on ahead of 2026. There are only 26 guys on the roster.
That’s 69 percent of the roster that can be turned over in one offseason!
Now, that won’t happen. A quick glance at the full list (which is missing Alan Montes, but he’s among the 18) shows a lot of guys that will surely be around in 2026. Not to mention replacing nearly 70 percent of the roster is a fool’s errand. It could be done, but it would be ugly. And Mike Burns may pull out his hair.
Instead of assuming players will be back or be gone, let’s rank them from extremely likely to return to almost certainly gone. With 10 games remaining in the 2025 Sporting KC schedule, we’ll analyze who is playing for their job.
Extremely Likely to be Back
Jansen Miller – I would be stunned if Miller doesn’t have his option picked up. He’s on a minimum contract and is a regular starter. He’s not been perfect, but he’s a rookie. At just 23-years-old, he could be here for a decade, torturing the league’s Designated Players and all the fans in St. Louis. Trigger that option!
John Pulskamp – After a relatively slow start to 2025, Pulskamp has stepped up big time. In his first full year as the starter, he has shown the promise many thought he had. There may ultimately be veteran competition for him next year, but he should absolutely be back. The team has one year left of team control if they pick up his 2026 option.
That’s the end of this list. Of course, eight other players are already under contract for 2026 or beyond, so we’ll skip over them today (Daniel Salloi, Shapi Suleymanov, Jake Davis, Ian James, Jack Kortkamp, Jacob Bartlett, Dejan Joveljic and Manu Garcia).
I’d Bring Them Back
Santi Munoz – In just 334 minutes, Munoz already has three goals and an assist while on loan from Santos Laguna (Liga MX). That’s incredible productivity for a guy who only has six career goals before coming to Kansas City. The only thing that could be a roadblock is his purchase option. We simply don’t know what it’ll cost to bring him back. If it’s a Designated Player sized fee, you have to let him walk. However, it’s hard to imagine even doing the loan with a fee like that. And fees can be renegotiated. If it’s reasonable, Santi should be here for a while since he’s only 22!
Zorhan Bassong – It wasn’t that long ago that I thought Bassong would be cut when Logan Ndenbe returned from injury last season. Then he snuck in some midfield minutes and saved himself from the chopping block. Add in his ability as a left back in a pinch or to close out a game, and he’s a bargain at his $114k salary. That’s cheap, quality depth in two spots. Bring back Zo!
Slightly More on the Fence
Mason Toye – Toye has barely seen the field in 2025. He’s got just 81 minutes across 11 substitute appearances. And he’s making $392,500 in guaranteed compensation. That said, he brings something different than any other forward on the roster. He’s also remained healthy after an injury plagued career. If Munoz is gone for some reason, it’s a no-brainer. I’d probably bring him back regardless, but the sample size of his play is so small. Then again, he scored a goal in those limited minutes, which is impressive considering the lack of opportunities.
Stephen Afrifa – I like Afrifa. I thought he showed real promise in 2024. But in 2025 he has 27 minutes. We’re 24 games into the season and he can’t get on the field! At a minimum salary, there is little risk to keeping him, and at 24 he’s still pretty young. If they aren’t going to play him, they should probably move on. At least let him get some minutes with SKC II, they basically have two forwards on the roster.
It Depends on Salary and Desire
Logan Ndenbe & Robert Voloder – Ndenbe’s been the most consistent left back on the team since Seth Sinovic and he’s still only 25 years old. Voloder is only 24 and had a breakout year this season before breaking his clavicle in a freak play.
The issue with these guys is their U-22 Initiative status falls off and they are out of contract. They are paid healthy salaries and may want raises, plus not matter what their salary budget hits will increase. Are they in the plans? Without a CSO and a permanent coach it’s harder to know. And they are both imperfect players, but they’ve shown enough promise to keep around if the price is right and they want to actually stay. If they want to stay, re-sign them both.
A Category of His Own
Erik Thommy – His salary is wild. He’s the third highest paid guy on the team at $1.6 million and his productivity isn’t always at that level. Before he suddenly went out injured though, he had quietly put up solid numbers with four goals and four assists this season.
He turns 31 this month and is out of contract. He feels like a man without a position on this roster. Then again, if Sporting KC change their system, he’s talented. That said, he’s on the wrong side of 30 and makes a ton of money that could likely be spent better elsewhere. The issue is the list below. There is going to be a lot of turnovers, and can the front office find this many quality players?
We Don’t Know Enough
Alan Montes – The guy signed last week. He doesn’t even have is P-1 Visa yet, so we haven’t seen him play. I expect he’ll have a chance in the coming weeks to prove the team should trigger his purchase option. It’s just too early right now.
Ryan Schewe – He’s only played for SKC II and up until a recent back-to-back set of wins (which he wasn’t part of), they’ve been awful. We’ll defer to the coaches on this one. Then again, Schewe and Brody are Miller’s best friends, and I’m about to dump Brody below. Never mind, that’s not a good reason to keep a guy. He’s on his rookie contract for two more years if the team wants to trigger his option. This is heavily dependent on practice and potential. The risk is low to bring him back.
Almost Certainly Gone
Khiry Shelton – He makes $775k, cannot stay healthy and also has no position. He’s played striker, winger and right back on this team (not to mention some dicey CB minutes in preseason). It’s too much money for a guy that is always hurt and isn’t replacement level at any of his positions. It’s time to move on. Decline his option.
Nemanja Radoja – I was so high on Radoja when he first arrived. But he’s been hurt too much, and his level has dropped off. At nearly $1.4 million, he is the 4th highest paid guy, and he isn’t a consistent starter. That money can be better spent elsewhere. SKC should decline his option too.
Tim Leibold – Another option the team needs to decide on is their highest paid left back. At $926k, he should be elite in MLS. He isn’t even the first choice left back on the team though. If this team played with wingbacks instead of fullbacks, maybe it would have worked out better. Both Leibold and Ndenbe are better going forward than they are at getting back. Leibold should be another casualty on a backline that has surrendered a ton of goals in recent years.
Andrew Brody – SKC took a flier on a player on waivers. They had no natural right backs on the roster and Brody was available for a league minimum deal (RSL are on the hook for the rest of his salary). But he hasn’t been healthy and when he has played, it hasn’t gone well. The right back position needs a complete overhaul.
Joaquin Fernandez – He’s out of contract after the year and should see the door. He’s been hurt about as much as he’s been healthy and hasn’t helped an ailing defense when he was on the field. He’s also the team’s 6th highest paid player (nearly $1.1 million) and should be a locked in starter for that money. He hasn’t been.
Dany Rosero – Another player who started out strong in Sporting Blue who fell off a cliff. He got hurt in 2024 and hasn’t looked the same. He has an option for 2026 but hasn’t shown anything that should tell the team to trigger it. I’d much rather have Voloder and his potential than a nearly 32-year-old Rosero.
Memo Rodriguez – Memo was a steal last year. Playing on a cheap salary and putting in quality minutes. In 2025, that just hasn’t been the case. He’s fallen off a bit and his roster spot is probably better suited for a developing prospect. He still has the best set piece pass on the team though, which could be useful. I’m the most on the fence about him as anyone on this list. And he’s the only player in this category who isn’t a defender.
All of this is to say, Mike Burns has a lot of work to do this offseason. 18 decisions. Numerous signings. Maybe a couple more guys this window.
Mike Burns: "We're trying to add another player or two." #SportingKC
— KC Soccer Journal (@kcsoccerjournal.bsky.social) 2025-08-07T02:09:42.618Z
He could sure use an assistant Sporting Director, maybe a Chief Soccer Officer, some more scouts and maybe a permanent Head Coach. Ownership, help Mike out!
Whatever happens as Sporting KC try to make the playoffs in 2025, it should be a telling time about the future of the club. There should be lots of turnover this offseason. Only time will tell how extensive that turnover is.
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That’s over $6 million dollars of cash + budget space since Thommy, Radoja and Fernandez are all TAM players. SKC is running the 2 DP/4 U22 roster construction so with Voloder and Ndenbe losing their status that’s 4 (!!!) U22 signings that can be made. Fernandez takes up an International slot so there will be 4/7 filled for next season if they keep Zo (imo they should).
I would keep Ndenbe and let Voloder and Montes duke it out for the starting spot next to Miller. Brand new RBs. Midfield is set with Bartlett, Davis and Manu. FWD line is Salloi, Joveljic, Shapi.
Is that a Western Conference winning team? No, not really. But Playoffs would be a reasonable expectation. The problem is where the upgrades happen, since both DP slots are taken and Manu has been…okay. Then it’s the wingers but they’re guaranteed for next year. So I guess an upgrade on Bartlett or Davis? But does that really move the needle for a competitive team?
I’d love to see them switch to the 3/3 model and go with three DPs. A third really talented player with Dejan and Manu would be a great start. They already have some young guys punching above their weight.
If they can hit on some potential TAM replacements, they could take a real step forward. Lots of things to sort out, but things feel like they have a good base to build upon.
Since the tents are in full folding mode at this point, I’m not sure why Afrifa doesn’t get minutes over Surly Sullenmonov (a guy who we’ll be showing the door at the first instance, I hope). I don’t know which coach’s wife the kid has been sleeping with to not get on the field because every time he comes on he makes things happen. There’s no leadership on this team beyond Jansen Miller’s role as leader-by-instigating-the-other-team, and our “best” young players with potential (Davis and…. Bartlett?) seem to be more interested in accumulating yellow cards than leading the team. I’m not even sure if Daniel deserves to stick around. It feels like a team of “just a bunch of guys”
That said, there are a lot of young players in this group that will be likely to go somewhere else and become bigger impact players (something SKC has a real history of doing), But gotta think that whoever comes in to coach this team next year brings has to bring a culture change that in 2-3 seasons will result in this whole squad being washed (maybe Jake stays as a core).
Does KC really have a history of young players becoming bigger impact players at other teams, especially recently? Busio, sure, but KC got a decent transfer fee for him. But otherwise? Tzionis is now in Romania with a mid-table team there. Wilson Harris was an impact player in the USL, but barely got a sniff in MLS otherwise. Eric Dick was USLC GKOTY last year, but again, not a sniff of similar level to KC. Graham Smith, Amadou Dia, Jaylin Lindsey, all plying their trade below MLS’s level. Other young players like Cam Duke, Kaveh Rad, Grayson Barber are all without teams right now. None of those
You could say the Dwyer trade, but even that is almost a decade behind us at this point. EPB? That’s also going on a decade now.
Honestly outside of MLS there really aren’t a lot of former players, especially among those still active, who have gone on to be bigger impact players.
And Dom did not become a bigger impact player and SKC made profit out of the transfer.
But what are we doing with that money? We’re not putting together a better team. Busio bought us… what? Two years of Pulido? Half of which was injury and at least a quarter of it was underachievement.
Guess I’m just old because I was thinking of Dwyer as an example. And I’m talking impact within the MLS, not internationally. Just in terms of league wins and losses.
Honestly, none of those kids you mentioned (Smith, Duke, et. al) were getting the minutes these youngsters are. And I still think Cam Duke could’ve been a strong rebuilding phase player (I guess we were still kidding ourselves at that point). I’d certainly put all of them in the “declining days of Vermes” era where we weren’t developing our younger players well. Most of those kids are in the last 3-4(?) seasons.
I still just find Afrifa’s lack of playing time a mystery beyond giving minutes to the larger contracts or maybe just being ignored at training. Another coach (hopefully here) is going to realize what they have in that kid for an attack-minded gamestyle.
I was surprised how much I agreed with just about everything on this list. I wish we could move on from Salloi but that’s a separate discussion.
I agree with most but I’d put Toye and Voloder on the gone list and Ndembe on the I’d bring back list.
If the team keeps Munoz and Afrifa, no reason to spend any more money on strikers. Voloder has had something like 5 good outings in 3+ years of playing. I think he could have grown into a solid CB, but PV wasted his good learning years with him on the bench. He is now tapped out…I don’t think he will get any better. I’d much rather put the effort into a player like Ian James.
My CB plan for SKC: SKC should plan to pickup a proven CB (no injury history) from the league that is older for the leadership element. Keep Ian and Jansen and take a flyer on a superdraft pick. Too early to tell on the new loan CB so he may make 5. If no on him, get another CB out of free agency.
I do agree with Chad that SKC should convert to a 3 DP / 3 U22 model. This team desperately needs a creative wing. I think RW because Salloi is very good when he has people around him to create chances. Manu, creator DP RW and Dejan are a combo that should create more chances than most MLS team forwards. I think Salloi will work well with those folks around him. The last 2 years have shown that Salloi cannot create for himself or others.
I don’t like to say it, but Thommy needs to go. This team does not play to his strengths, and he doesn’t create for others the way this team needs. He is great at creating for himself though. Simply too expensive for what he provides.
It’s both exciting and frustrating to see how much money is tied up in the players in the “Almost Certainly Gone” list. Exciting because of the amount of money we could have back to reinvest in this rebuild, but also frustrating because of the bad deals/bad outcomes from these deals. Liebold, Radoja, and Shelton are definitely the biggest hits in terms of how much salary they command vs how much value they add. It’s not their fault that they were offered lucrative deals, but it’s further confirmation for me that PV was not operating at the highest level when dealing with contracts. He may have been out of the GM role when Radoja was signed (can’t fully remember) but he was most definitely in the driver seat for Khiry’s contract renewal and Liebold’s signing.
I’ve long thought that Thommy was like a Swiss army knife: he can be plugged into a lot of places, but you always wish you had a real tool to use in that situation instead. I like him, he’s done some great things for the team, but it’s time to part ways. I’d rather have a highly paid specialist and keep versatile players on lower contracts. The point of those types is for them to not be exceptional but plug holes when needed. $1.6 million is much too high for someone that doesn’t have a clear role on this team.
I would keep Ndenbe if his number doesn’t go up too much. He’s not making much less than some pretty high performing left-backs in the league, so it doesn’t make sense for him to get a big raise. Hollingshead is a better player in my opinion and only makes a little more than $100k more. As for Voloder, I’ve just never been a big fan and would like us to move on. Injury and bias against youth have kept him off the field, but even as he’s gotten time to play, I’ve just never been impressed. The point of the U-22 is to take fliers on potential talent and see who grows. In my opinion, he hasn’t grown enough and at $550,000, that’s too much to blow on someone who rotates on the backline.
The other one that I would add to this, despite him not on a contract year, is Salloi. Daniel has been a huge part of this team for many years and is the poster child for our Homegrown pipeline (outside of Busio), but the fact is that he is a streaky winger that can’t be relied on year in and year out. When he’s on, he’s great (2021 is the perfect example), but he’s only good for about 10 or less goal contributions a season. At $1.3 million, I want more production from a winger. If Burns was able to sell him off to another team, that would make me very happy. Sporting has a bad history of holding onto players past their expiration date and getting nothing for them. Daniel is the next one in my opinion that if we resign, will become like Johnny Russel where we’re fine for the first year or two of the new contract, but by the end are regretting the choice and not able to turn a profit. No hate for Daniel, but it’s time for Sporting to start operating like a modern club and make some money from players when they have the chance. If they’re serious about a rebuild, I think Salloi needs to go.