Sporting KC
Rumor: Sporting KC Targeting Albanian Midfielder Juljan Shehu
The rumor could just be coming from an agent, but Sporting Kansas City fans need something to grasp ahold of in this slow offseason.
It’s silly season. The time of year when players are linked to clubs in need at various positions. Despite Sporting Kansas City having needs all over the pitch, the news has been quiet. That is, until Polish site Goal.pl leaked that Sporting KC are “eyeing” Albanian midfielder Juljan Shehu. That news came way back on the 19th, but no one noticed it until Drew VanderPloeg from the Home and Away podcast, uncovered it.
The story says that Sporting KC are interested, along with Panathinaikos in Greece and Valencia in Spain. Sporting KC are the smallest of those three clubs, and it could be nothing as with all rumors, but fans are desperate for news. There are just 16 players on SKC’s roster with preseason just around the corner on January 10th. The team also still doesn’t have a coach, but the Colorado Rapids were consulting their coach about player moves before he was hired. The same could be true in KC and The Athletic’s Tom Bogert says Sporting KC are “in the final stages of hiring a new head coach.”
Who is Juljan Shehu?
So, even if Juljan Shehu isn’t coming to Kansas City, let’s learn a bit more about him just in case.
Shehu plays in the midfield for Widzew Łódź in the Polish first division. Transfermarkt lists him as playing in all three central midfield spots, but Drew’s breakdown of his tape has him as more of a defensive midfielder. Drew went on to say he has good size and uses his body positioning well, though he’s more of a possession based #6 than a destroyer, but is far more active than Nemanja Radoja who just left the team. Drew finished by saying he plays quick and is far more decisive as well.
Despite playing deeper on the pitch, he has four goals and four assists this season for his club. Not to mention another goal in Polish Cup play. He’s just 27-years-old and has recently broken into the Albanian National Team, making seven appearances since debuting in March of 2025.
He is under contract through the summer of 2028, so some sort of fee would likely be needed to pry him free of his club. However, the article says there is a release clause in Shehu’s contract for certain top leagues. It’s unclear if MLS is one of those leagues. If he can arrive on a free transfer, that would make the signing vastly easier for Sporting KC (or the other interested teams) to get a deal done.
During the 2023-24 season, Shehu did have a major knee injury costing him most of the season. Despite that, he has bounced back and played well by all accounts in recent seasons. Outside of that injury, he’s had no other major injuries despite being a professional since 2018.
Before coming to Widzew Łódź, Shehu had never played in Poland before. He came up in a couple Albanian youth setups before going pro with Greek club Paniliakos. After a year in Greece, he went back to Albania and played for KS Kastrioti and later KF Laçi, both in the Albanian second division, before heading to Poland in 2022.
Highlights
A lot of the things Drew saw (in likely more recent clips) show up in these older highlights. He’s decisive, well positioned and has a nice long switch to break play open quickly. If the rumor is true, he looks like a nice addition to Sporting KC’s midfield.
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Sorry, I don’t give a single fuck which players may come to SKC. I want to know who will be managing. I want to know what to expect. Who will be the captain? The last two didn’t survive to see a second season.
Sporting as so much that is broken. I don’t see the direction our side is heading. Is this going to be another season of declining attendance? Don’t quote stats, I can see the empty seats. Will this be another year of over promises and over priced mediocre food and drinks. Will the only noise be the over amped noise from disco Donna and the other person? Where is this club headed.
This week brings a new year and still no manager, no direction, and no comment from the people expecting our money and time.
A good manager can take less talent and make something outstanding, but a poor manager can take great talent and turn it into shit. I don’t care about talent, I care about leadership.
All right!!!! -3.
There are still people who don’t want to face facts.
I don’t necessarily disagree with you, but the repetitive stridency can be off-putting and might account for some of your downvotes.
Ugh, “major knee surgery.” This feels like the same old SKC.
Don’t say that too loud. So far it is the same.
This definitely feels like the “shopping on the scrap heap for a rehabilitation project” approach that seemed to define the later Vermes years. Sometimes it panned out. Often not. But right now I’m giving Lee a decent leash because a real rebuild takes time and I’d rather he get it right. Besides, this is probably just smoke.
I wonder how old the news is. Perhaps this is a leftover from the previous attempts. With preseason so close, I just wanted to hear more than rumored signings. But I could be just overly anxious.
I saw this on transfer market rumors 2 weeks ago and they had a 60% down arrow, they also mentioned he is getting targeted by 2 other teams
The 2nd paragraph opens with that bit about the other teams: “The story says that Sporting KC are interested, along with Panathinaikos in Greece and Valencia in Spain.”