TUKWILA, Wash. – Even as Garth Lagerwey praised the veteran chops and locker room presence of freshly minted forward Herculez Gomez on Thursday, the Seattle Sounders GM and President of Soccer insisted there’s still more work to be done to help resurrect the season.
And, as it turns out, a few more signings in the works.
Gomez was officially added to the roster on Thursday after a recent training stint with the Sounders, giving the team a veteran striker who has spent much of the past six years in Liga MX. He appeared with the United States in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, led the Mexican league in scoring six years ago and won an MLS Cup with the LA Galaxy in 2005, but Gomez does not solve all of the Sounders’ issues as they look to snap out of an early funk.
And Lagerwey knows it.
“Quality veteran depth at the right price, it’s a value signing one way or the other,” Lagerwey said of Gomez. “It’s definitely not an Obafemi Martins replacement. When you lose a DP, you need to go out and get another DP, and we still intend to add a pretty good attacking player, and maybe more than one, depending on how we choose to spend our money.”
That’s encouraging news for a Sounders team still trying to find its footing in 2016. Equally as welcome is the small financial hit the club will take by adding the 33-year-old Gomez, who played for Toronto FC under a hefty contract last year before the club let him go earlier this year.
Lagerwey said TFC will be responsible for “a significant chunk” of Gomez’s 2016 contract after they released him so late in the offseason, not unlike how the Sounders took the brunt of the contract for Kenny Cooper even after they waived the veteran striker last April.
“The shoe was on our foot last year,” Lagerwey said, “and it’s on the other foot now.”
Originally from Oxnard, Calif., Gomez made his MLS debut in 2003 with the LA Galaxy and later played for Colorado and Kansas City before he eventually suited up for six different teams in Mexico from 2010-15.
He’s scored 24 goals and added 13 assists over 131 career appearances in MLS, including a career-high 11 goals with LA in 2005, when he won an MLS Cup with the Galaxy.
Gomez has previous ties to both the Sounders and head coach Sigi Schmid, forged more than a decade ago. Schmid signed Gomez to a contract with the Galaxy in 2002 before loaning him out to the NASL Sounders in 2003, scoring one goal in 17 appearances for the club and current Sounders assistant Brian Schmetzer.
“It’s a good deal for us,” Lagerwey said. “We’re able to add a really quality veteran player in Herc, obviously with a pretty impressive pedigree and ties to the Sounders going all the way back to the old days. And Toronto is on the hook for the contract … so the [Sounders] are not going to bearing the majority of the salary. It’s a pretty good value acquisition for us.”
