Sporting Kansas City announced today that the club has signed Erik Thommy, a 27-year-old attacking midfielder and German Bundesliga veteran.
Thommy, who ended a four-year stint at Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart this summer, will be added to the Sporting KC roster when Major League Soccer’s secondary transfer window opens on July 7. He has signed an MLS contract through 2024 with an option for 2025 and will occupy an international roster spot, pending receipt of his International Transfer Certificate and P1 visa.
“This is a big step for me in my career,” Thommy said. “I have had very good conversations with Peter Vermes and I am excited to join MLS, a league that has developed a lot in the last few years. This club has great fans, great facilities and a great stadium. I want to give my best for the team and I am ready for the challenge.”
Thommy has recorded 42 goals and 33 assists across nine seasons in his native Germany—including nine goals, 14 assists and 96 appearances in the Bundesliga, one of the top leagues in the world. The playmaker is Sporting’s second midseason signing of 2022 after the club announced the acquisition of forward William Agada earlier today.
Capable of playing in an advanced midfield role or on the wing, Thommy launched his professional career with FC Augsburg in 2014 before going on loan to FC Kaiserslautern (2014-2016) and Jahn Regensburg (2016-2017). The right-footed player joined VfB Stuttgart in 2017, starred for Fortuna Dusseldorf during a successful loan spell in 2019-2020, and ended his time at Stuttgart this spring by appearing in each of the club’s last six matches of the 2021-2022 campaign.
As a youth player, Thommy developed in academies at SV Kleinbeuren (2000-2002), SSV Ulm (2002-2009) and TSG Thannhausen (2009-2010) before moving to FC Augsburg, where he competed in the U-17 and U-19 Bundesliga. He signed for FC Augsburg II in 2013 and punctuated his debut professional season by notching 18 goals and five assists in the fourth-division Regionalliga, also making his Bundesliga debut with Augsburg’s senior team as a 19-year-old in February 2014.
From 2014 to 2016, Thommy split time between his parent club Augsburg and Kaiserslautern, where he spent a year on loan. He was then loaned from Augsburg to third-division outfit Jahn Regensburg and tallied eight goals and seven assists across 37 appearances during the 2016-17 campaign. Thommy’s standout performances during the season helped Jahn Regensburg gain promotion to the second-division 2 Bundesliga.
Thommy spent the first half of 2017-2018 with Augsburg, then transferred mid-season to VfB Stuttgart to begin a fruitful stay at the Southern German club. He opened his Bundesliga scoring account in a 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Feb. 24 and finished the 2018 calendar year with three goals and seven assists in the Bundesliga, including three assists in a 3-2 victory over FC Koln on March 4.
In a year-long loan to Bundesliga side Fortuna Dusseldorf in 2019-20, Thommy enjoyed the best season of his professional career to date. The midfielder appeared in all 34 top-flight matches, finished second on the team with six league goals and helped the team reach the quarterfinals of the prestigious DFB-Pokal. He scored in three straight Bundesliga matches in February 2020 and assisted on five goals over the course of the season.
Thommy returned to Stuttgart in the summer of 2020 and has spent the last two Bundesliga seasons with the club. He helped the team to a top-half finish in 2020-2021 and featured regularly down the stretch of a dramatic 2021-2022 campaign that saw Stuttgart escape relegation on the final day of the season with a 2-1 triumph over FC Koln.
Transaction: Sporting Kansas City (MLS) signs midfielder Erik Thommy.
