Sporting KC Keep Four Defenders and Move on from Four Others

Sporting Kansas City had a tough 2026. They finished 29th in Major League Soccer, narrowly avoiding last place on a tiebreaker with CF Montreal. When things are this bad, there is nothing to do but look towards the future.

Yesterday, Sporting KC announced the firing of head coach Rapha Wicky and two of his assistant coaches. Today, they had decisions to make on seven players with an additional two players out of contract.

Before the team even did their release, goalkeeper John Pulskamp said his goodbyes to Kansas City. He’s out of contract and will be moving on. He had been with the team longer than anyone else on the roster. Jake Davis now takes over that mantle. Davis joined in the summer of 2021. Pulskamp was the winter of 2020.

The press release made the Pulskamp news official and added Stephen Afrifa, Shapi Suleymanov and Ethan Bartlow to the list of departing players. Shapi and Bartlow had options declined and Pulskamp and Afrifa were out of contract and “will not return to the club.”

The team exercised contract options through the 2027 Sprint Season on defenders Wyatt Meyer and Jayden Reid and exercised full year options through the end of 2027 (and the middle of the 2027-28 season) for Jansen Miller and Justin Reynolds.

A ninth player remains in limbo. Backup goalkeeper Ryan Schewe remains on loan with Louisville City in the USL Championship and his contract option will be addressed when his loan expires. Louisville plays the Charleston Battery this Saturday in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The team also confirmed the news that 15-year-old Homegrown, Zamir Loyo Reynaga, moves to the first team to start 2027 in a contract that was signed earlier this year.

Where Does the SKC Roster Stand?

Today’s moves leave 25 players on the roster, though the team pointed out only 20 of those are guaranteed deals.

The team has filled one of its three Designated Player spots with Andre Luiz, who was a breakout star since joining in the middle of the season. And the team has two of its three U-22 Initiative spots filled with signings from 2026. Diego Borges joined back in March but missed most of the season with injury. Then Sporting KC took a big swing signing Owen Wolff from Austin FC for a record-breaking transfer fee for an internal U22 move. He also struggled with injuries but showed real promise in the last few games of the season.

President of Soccer Operations and General Manager, David Lee, has been clear he’s aiming to use the 3/3 model, of three DPs and three U22 signings. And new majority owner, Peter Mallouk, has his checkbook open for more massive spends to fill those spots.

The $18 million Sporting KC were rumored to spend on Andre is just the beginning. They could spend a lot on the other two DPs and also on that last U22 spot.

Beyond that, there aren’t a ton of open roster spots, but there is room to make additions and obviously subtractions can still be on the table.

The team has shown a willingness to move on from players perceived to be a bad fit and even to eat big contracts (Manu Garcia). SKC is converting $3 million in General Allocation Money (GAM) from the Dejan Joveljic transfer, which opens the roster budget by an additional $3m. Not to mention all the other GAM a team gets every year along with Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) for more over budget players.

If the players they added this summer get healthy and David Lee gets busy hiring a coach and adding more talent, Sporting KC seem like they could make a nice jump in performance for the 2027 MLS Sprint Season.

The KC Soccer Journal will bring you everything Sporting KC related this offseason.