In a press conference Monday afternoon, Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes discussed the arrival of midfielder Bernardo Anor, the departures of defender Aurelien Collin and forward C.J. Sapong, and future player movement during the offseason.
On trading defender Aurelien Collin to Orlando City SC...
We tried (several) times to get a deal done. It just wasn’t getting where it needed to get. At some point, he had a couple options other than what we were offering. One, he could have left and gone overseas because he was free at that moment. Or he could try to work out a deal with another team in the League which, in turn, allowed us to get some type of value for the player in return. The last (scenario) is what it wound up being. It wasn’t easy. It’s obviously a player we found and brought here. But I think all of you know that in the [salary] cap world of all sports, there are always going to be challenges trying to keep your team together. In this situation, it became a cap casualty in regards to not being able to get a contract done.
On Collin’s amicable departure from Sporting KC…
I think he understands where we were, and I understand where he is. Any of us would be foolish not to understand that this happens in sports. It happens in every sport all the time, and I think that’s why nowadays in most sports—especially in this country, where you’re talking about baseball, basketball, football, hockey and soccer—the bottom line is we’re all in a position that we have to manage our caps to keep competitive over time. If not, you could be a one-hit wonder, but all the sudden you find it very difficult to challenge because you have to go back down to the bottom of the rung and start all over again. In this situation, it’s one of those things you have to deal with, and we’ll continue to move forward.
On defender Ike Opara's increasingly important role...
Ike’s definitely a good player for us, no doubt. I would also say that the team’s never done: we’re always looking for players. There’s no doubt in my mind that Ike can play. Is he going to be ready to go? Right now, he’s fully fit. But it’s the same with any player—anyone can get injured at any time during the season, and you have to be ready for that. And if there’s ever been a season that’s told us that, it was this one for sure. He’s way ahead of schedule. At the end of the season, we probably could have played him, but he wouldn’t have been 90 minutes fit. So it didn’t’ make sense for us to try to rush him back.
On trading forward C.J. to the Philadelphia Union...
The biggest thing with this (trade) was that you can only protect 11 guys [in the Expansion Draft], and we had to protect three foreign players, as well. So it really lessened the number of players that we could protect. It was going to be hard to protect (Sapong) so we tried to move before somebody else came and took him through the Expansion Draft. Both guys have been solid citizens with this club, they’ve been excellent in helping us build the ethos and the culture of the club, and they helped us find success on the field. They’re two players who for sure will be missed, and I’m sure they’re going to have successful careers as they go on. But unfortunately, it’s not going to be here starting today.
On Sporting KC's activity during Monday's half-day trade window...
The things that happened today are the things we worked towards. Again, there’s still a lot of time left before the start of the season. There are still a lot of things that can happen, and there are still a lot of things that will happen as far as the different player mechanisms—the protected list coming out this afternoon, the Expansion Draft on Wednesday, stage one of the Re-Entry Draft on Friday and then the next stage of the Re-Entry Draft. During all that time, there are still going to be trades taking place. So there’s a lot of time to build a team and try to put something together, and we’re going to work towards that.
On Friday's MLS Re-Entry Draft (Stage 1)...
There have been some good players there since that mechanism was put in place. We hope that we’re going to be in a decent position to find some players in there, as well.
On the acquisition of midfielder Bernardo Anor from Columbus Crew SC...
He can play a lot of different positions. He’s very versatile in that he can play on the right or the left, he can play defense, he can play as a forward, he can play in the middle of the midfield. So he’s got a lot of places he can play. I’ve never seen him play central defender, but I’ve basically seen him play everywhere else. It’s an interesting player for us going forward, and like any guy, he’ll have to adapt and adjust to our team, but I think he’s got a lot of really good qualities.
On Sporting KC's goalkeeper situation...
We have some good targets, and we’re moving closer and closer to securing that position. We want to make sure it’s somebody that’s going to be able to play at the style and level we want to play at. We don’t ever try to bring anybody in short-term. We always try to bring in players long-term. Jon (Kempin) has to continue to develop himself and always has to be a competitor for that position. One of the best things about any team that’s successful is you have to have competition at every position.
On Sporting KC's usage of allocation money...
It’s really used to manage the salary cap. There are different ways you can use it, and we’ll try to be as creative as we can, using whatever we need to make sure that we stay competitive. That’s the biggest thing.
On Sporting KC's current salary cap and allocation money positions...
We’ve still got some work to do [with the salary cap]. Again, with success and different players you sign over time, and not understanding what the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) is going to put forth for the cap, it’s a little bit difficult to say everything is good. In terms of allocation money, we’re in a great place.
On Sporting KC's positional needs during the transfer season...
We need players on all lines. We need players on the defensive line, we need players in the midfield and we need players up top. Until any of these deals get secured, we’re going to keep working towards improving the roster. The other piece is, the way we stand right now, we have three picks in the first round [of the 2015 MLS SuperDraft]. So that’s something for us to look at for the future. It’s not just about now.
On the 2015 MLS SuperDraft in January...
There are always good players, you just have to find the right ones. The other thing is you have to have patience to try to bring them along and develop them. A lot of times, we have patience but the player needs to make sure he has patience, as well. It’s important for us to pick some good ones because we’ve got some good picks here that we’ve secured.
On Wednesday's Expansion Draft...
I’d like to protect a lot more players if I could, but the rules are the rules and we have to play by them. That part’s a little difficult, but like I said, we’ll see how things go. We’ll put out our protected list, see who gets picked, then we’ll go from there.
On selecting which players to protect from the Expansion Draft...
It’s hard to predict what the other coaches and teams are looking for in regard to positions. I think it’s more of what you think the value is of the players. You have to be smart around that piece because sometimes you value your players a lot more that everyone else does. So I think you have to sit back and think what other teams might be interested in, but at the end of the day, it’s how you value your players.
On Bernardo Anor re-signing with Columbus last Wednesday before today's trade to Sporting KC...
Part of the deal was that he needed to re-sign. It was (essentially) a sign-and-trade. We kind of knew that was all going on.
On the MLS Expansion Draft and its current rules…
I don’t know if it needs to go away, but I think the rules maybe need to change a little bit. Back when this all started, there was a time where there were 10 teams in the league. Now there are 20. When Atlanta comes in and when LA comes in, they’re going to be have 20 teams to pick from. In that situation, you could have 10 teams that don’t even lose a player and 10 teams that do. In that regard, maybe some new ideas need to be looked at. For me, one of them might be that when you get a player taken off your senior roster, then you should close off your senior roster and you can only lose a player off your reserve roster.
On the types of players that Orlando City SC and New York City SC will try to acquire...
I haven’t been on an expansion team, but I know from afar what’s going on. I think they’re trying to get players from MLS who’ve been playing in the League. They can use that experience on their teams. There’s no doubt that they’re ahead of the game because they have a clean slate and they can afford to pay that money based on where they sit on their cap.
On his decision-making process during the transfer season...
We don’t make decisions based on what everybody else is doing in the league. We make decisions on what we feel is important for us. None of what we do is driven by anyone else. What we try to do is for the best of the club, not just for tomorrow but in the long term.
