January’s turning out to be quite the month for Seattle Sounders Homegrown Players.
A year ago, the Sounders made a splash big enough to spy from space when they announced the signing of former academy star Jordan Morris. A year later, Morris is now working his way through his first professional offseason with an MLS Rookie of the Year trophy and an MLS Cup in his cabinet. Signing Homegrowns is perhaps an inexact science, but the front office nailed the alchemy in that formula.
A year later and we now have two more Homegrowns to add to the pile. Busy days indeed on the Sounders’ youth talent assembly line.
On Wednesday, Seattle announced the signings of former academy players Seyi Adekoya and Henry Wingo. Adekoya and Wingo came through the academy at the same time and were pushed out to Pac-12 programs in 2014: Adekoya to UCLA and Wingo to hometown Washington. Over the last three years, both developed into regular starters for NCAA tournament teams, Adekoya as a skilled scorer and Wingo as something of a jack-of-all-trades wide player further back.
And now the Sounders have more youth to add to the mixer. The question is what comes next. And who exactly the Sounders are getting in these two promising young players.
The first steps of the MLS Homegrown initiative were soft ones. In November 2008, Tristan Bowen became the first player in league history to sign directly out of a club’s academy when the LA Galaxy offered a contract. Since then, Homegrown signings gradually rose from a trickle to a steady stream, and today there are around 90 active Homegrowns in the league. Given that the Development Academy, in which every MLS team has a vested academy, is only 10 years old, the initiative was always going to take time.
The Sounders in particular have made good use of the pipeline. They’ve now signed an MLS Rookie of the Year out of their own academy, a feat only D.C. United’s matched with Andy Najar in 2010. And the club is also on the shortlist of teams to have sold a Homegrown to Europe, as the Sounders did with DeAndre Yedlin to Tottenham two years ago. No club in MLS has done both those things with two different players.
The Sounders may not have the most prodigious academy in terms of signing Homegrowns — that honor goes to youth-obsessed FC Dallas — but they’ve certainly made their mark. And it is in those footsteps that Adekoya and Wingo walk.
Wingo’s position at the next level should be an interesting progression to monitor. He was mostly considered a wide midfielder out of the academy, and to be sure that’s where he started his career. But Wingo’s skill set — he only scored a goal and had two assists in his college career, and none after his freshman year — would perhaps seem to translate into a different role.
Could the Sounders try Wingo at right back? It certainly wouldn’t be the biggest surprise in Homegrown history. Given the dearth of options at fullback, Wingo’s natural athleticism and above-average marking ability provide a sturdy foundation for the future. If any player is set up for a position change at the next level, it would seem to be Wingo.
There are far fewer questions about Adekoya’s best position. Whether as a forward or a winger, Adekoya shouldn’t be far from the box.
At UCLA, Adekoya often paired with Abu Danladi, the No. 1 pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft. Danladi naturally robbed Adekoya of some of the spotlight, making the Sounders academy forward more of a hipster pick to hit it big at the next level. But a practiced look at the UCLA lineup with Adekoya in it revealed an attacking light not much dimmer than Danladi’s, if at all. Despite a spate of injury issues, Adekoya scored 20 goals and assisted on eight in his three years in Westwood, providing consistency and constant danger up top.
It’s no secret the Sounders need width. The departure of Andreas Ivanschitz and retirement of Herculez Gomez this offseason drained an already depleted wide corps, and even those two were relatively unnatural fits as the wide pegs in the 4-2-3-1. As far as rostered width, the Sounders are looking at Alvaro Fernandez, Aaron Kovar and probably Harry Shipp. And Shipp is a converted central midfielder.
The Sounders are almost certainly targeting the position in the transfer market, but absent a theoretical move, Adekoya’s signing could provide depth there. He’s not unfamiliar with wide play, and he was occasionally deployed on the wing at UCLA. He told SoundersFC.com on Wednesday that he loves dribbling at defenders on the wing and using his speed to get to the end line and play in crosses.
He certainly has the athleticism. He was typically at his best when linked with Danladi up top or as the primary No. 9, but the positional need could drive Adekoya outside on the pro level.
Either way, Wednesday’s Homegrown signings were not completed in a vacuum. Wingo and Adekoya are airdropping into positions with little depth, meaning they should have a legitimate chance to make final 18-man rosters as early as this season. If not, the Sounders just signed two for the future. And on the Sounders’ Homegrown wheel turns.
