Sporting Kansas City acquired three players in the first round of the 2015 MLS SuperDraft on Thursday, selecting Cal midfielder Connor Hallisey, Akron defender Saad Abdul-Salaam and Clemson defender Amadou Dia with the 10th, 12 and 20th picks, respectively. The club then traded its No. 30 pick in Round 2 for rights to Houston Dynamo midfielder Servando Carrasco. Manager Peter Vermes shared his remarks from the draft in Philadelphia.
On Sporting KC's three first round selections in the MLS SuperDraft...
Connor Hallisey is a player who we think has a combination of a couple really good things. He's a wide player who has good athleticism and is an excellent soccer player. He has a very good head for the game. At the same time, with his speed he can get down the line and put balls into the box where he wants to put it, as opposed to just whacking it in there. He’s very impressive from that point of view. So we’re looking forward to how he’s going to develop over time. At the same time, we really had a strong desire to try to get two outside backs, one on the left and one on the right. We got them both, one on the left [Amadou Dia] and one on the right [Saad Abdul-Salaam]. They both have qualities that we look for—the athleticism in the position, the engine for them to go box-to-box, and both players have a solution in the final third, which is an important aspect we look for from our outside backs.
On acquring the rights to Houston Dynamo midfielder Servando Carrasco...
Based on the fact that the other player we wanted in the draft fell off the board, we were looking to do some business with Houston and were able to secure the rights to Servando Carrasco. It only made sense for us to try that opportunity and see if we can work out a contract. If we can, great. If not, we were sticking with the right players for us. We feel that we came out of the draft in a really good position.
On his expectations for the draft selections during the 2015 season...
The pressure is not on any one of these guys to be a starter right away. Unless we’re forced to by outside circumstances, our objective is to not put a player in a position where he’s going to be unsuccessful. Our position is to put a player where he is going to be successful. We’re going to take our time with those guys. If one of them keeps his head up and is someone who can start, we’re open to that. But there’s no pressure on these guys right off the bat. That’s a good thing for them and a good thing for us so we can take some time and try to develop them.
On the rookies competing for playing time...
It’s always nice to be in a position where you don’t have to force a guy onto the field when he’s not necessarily ready. Now, I can’t tell you that these guys aren’t ready, but now they’re going to come in and start training with us. We’ll get a chance to see everything about them at a much closer level than we would at any other time. From that point of view, their preseason is going to be a way to evaluate what we’re trying to do with them going forward. A lot of that is going to be played out in preseason. What’s good about these guys is they all have qualities that we’re looking for, and I think there’s something to build off these guys.
On the role Servando Carrasco might play on the team...
I see him as a holding midfielder or possibly a No. 8 in our system. But I think his biggest position would be a No. 6 [as holding midfielder].
