Sounders Must Bounce Back Quickly From Martins Transfer

The Seattle Sounders and their fans are likely still reeling from the surprise departure of leading scorer Obafemi Martins to the Chinese Super League.

“I think a lot of fans of the Sounders – and the Sounders themselves – their jaws were on the floor about this,” Thiel said.

But, as China does with many things, it throws money to try to catch up and a lot of international players are going to China now because the money is so good.” Thiel said another likely reason Martins wants to play in China is getting the chance to play on grass.

“They can pay international players, such as Martins, Clint Dempsey and other internationals who are highly talented, bigger money than MLS allows and close to what they were receiving globally.

The Sounders have their own homegrown star power who will likely feature prominently in the starting lineup this season: Jordan Morris of Mercer Island.

He skipped his senior year to come to the Sounders because he was really attracted to what he saw with the Sounders as an MLS team.

“There’s going to be a learning curve but I think the Sounders are very excited about the vacancy in the starting lineup to push Morris forward but there are going to be growing pains because he’s 10 years younger.