Canadian international Marcel de Jong isn't officially on Sporting Kansas City's roster yet, but the left back with Bundesliga experience has been seeing a good deal of action in Sporting's preseason matches.
“He's got a lot of interesting qualities as a player, no doubt,” manager Peter Vermes told reporters in a conference call on Saturday, after de Jong started and played the first half in a 3-2 Desert Diamond Cup win over Seattle in Tucson, Arizona. “He's very good on the ball and reads the game really well. He's an excellent passer out of the back, as well. It was solid play on his side.”
The 28-year-old defender (pictured above), who parted ways with FC Augsburg late last month after losing his starting job to Baba Rahman, had five goals in 67 league matches with the German side and was part of Augsburg's successful promotion campaign in 2010-11. With Canada, he has 31 caps and two goals.
Signing him would give Sporting another experienced option at left back, along with veteran Seth Sinovic.
“It's something that we're assessing,” Vermes said.
De Jong also has played professionally with Dutch clubs Helmond Sport and Roda JC Kerkrade – the former club of new Sporting forward Krisztian Nemeth, although the two did not play there at the same time. He made his first preseason appearance last week with a 45-minute start in Sporting's 2-2 draw against Colorado in the Desert Diamond Cup opener.
“He understands the game very well and he knows how to push the game, as well,” Vermes said after that match. “It was a good first game. He’s got to get fitter, so we didn’t want to give him too many minutes.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
