Top Stories

Sounders sign Swiss striker Nkufo

BlaiseNkufo (Getty Images)

The Seattle Sounders have completed the signing of Swiss national team striker Blaise Nkufo, the club announced on its team website on Thursday.

Nkufo is currently the captain of Dutch champions FC Twente and will join the Sounders after this summer's World Cup. The deal had been in the works for six months as the Sounders and Nkufo's agent, Oliver Wyss of W3 Sports Management finalized the deal this week. Terms of the deal were not disclosed and it remains unclear whether he is coming as a Designated Player or not.

An accomplished goal scorer, Nkufo should help form a deadly strike force alongside Freddy Montero, assuming the Sounders don't lose Montero in the European transfer market this summer, which is a real possibility. A 6-foot-2 target striker, Nkufo will come to MLS at the age of 35, but his steady play in the Dutch League would suggest that he should still make a major impact once he joins the Sounders.

“He’s a proven goal-scorer who has had a good run with the Swiss National Team in their qualifying for the World Cup,” Seattle head coach Sigi Schmid told SoundersFC.com. “He’s had a tremendous run at Twente and is a player that knows how to find space in the box at appropriate moments.”

What do you think of this signing? Impressed that the Sounders were able to land a player of Nkufo's quality? Think Seattle could win a title in year two?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. In Seattle’s defense, it is quite hard to be aggressive when you don’t know what the salary cap will be or whether you’ll have another DP slot.

    Reply
  2. Not true… as reported by a local news source in Seattle, he has visited Seattle, and was at Quest field during his visit.

    Reply
  3. +1. “They” said Montero was gone last summer for sure, too. And they said he was gone this winter for sure. Better to enjoy him while he’s around and not think about it until there’s legitimate info…

    Reply
  4. I call total B.S. I don’t like FieldTurf for soccer because the ball doesn’t roll and bounce quite the same. But the injury argument is utter crap.

    Reply
  5. That was the initial report, but it has since been shot down. His agents and Deportivo Cali still own his rights (or some goddam thing). All I really know is that MLS does not.

    Reply
  6. “Why don’t we find more Freddy Montero’s out there? Build a pipeline from South America of talented players and then sell them to Europe.”

    Maybe it’s not so easy? There are a couple hundred European teams already scouting in South America. I guess most of the talented kids are on European radar. So they have choose between Europe, big South American sides, leagues like Japan and Mexico and then MLS. Some might want to go to MLS, but not many.

    Reply
  7. Turf doesn’t give. If you plant your foot and your body twists, grass will give. Do the same thing on field turf and your knee will give. This happened to me a couple years ago in an indoor game and I haven’t been able to play since. I do like field turf, but it carries some added risks.

    University of Missouri found:

    “Fresenburg tested four turf types, three natural grasses and MU’s Faurot Field using a contraption of cleats, weights to simulate an athlete’s weight and a torque wrench-like tool. When a cleat was completely planted in Faurot Field, it needed an average of 110 foot-pounds — a foot-pound is a measured unit of applied force — of torque to twist free. That was compared to 81 to 85 foot-pounds needed on the natural surfaces.

    “In some areas of Faurot Field, we maxed out the instrument at 120 foot-pounds,” Fresenburg said. “The cleated foot simply wouldn’t shear. That’s not good.”

    The good news is that the difference only occurred when a cleat was fully planted in the field. When only a portion of the cleat simulating the ball of a foot was planted, the force needed to twist free was the about the same on all surfaces.”

    Reply
  8. I agree with you on the field turf. I recently got back into playing indoor. At 30 and having been away from soccer for five years, field turf hasn’t bothered me at all. Pro soccer should be played on grass, but unless the Sounders move out of Qwest Field the field turf is staying.

    Not going to the Timbers game next week?

    Reply
  9. All the Sounders need now is Clarence Seedorf then even Dallas will sell out 1 home game; when SSFC rolls through town.

    Reply
  10. Evidence please – I could be wrong, but I don’t recall him complaining about the turf at Qwest. The only fields I remember him complaining about were the gridiron lines in NE and the sandbox in Houston.

    Reply
  11. You pretty much summed it up chicagofire. I just hope that the players and owners don’t drive this train of momentum to a halt with a strike because thank to teams like Seattle and Toronto this league may one day be a player in the world market for top players and have a free agency system but hopefully one that doesn’t drive the price of players through the roof like in the NBA, NFL, MLB and soccer in Europe.

    BTW – Great playoff atmosphere last year in Chicago. You could feel it through the broadcast and that stuff helps as well.

    Reply
  12. Sounds like a good pickup. The age is a bit worrisome but at least he’s durable. Leading a team six years in a row means he must have avoided overly many injuries.

    Reply
  13. Yep, The sounders would be a great club if it were not for that stupid field. As bad as Robertson gets in the summer, at least it’s not polystyrene!

    Reply
  14. LOL. I wonder if he even knows what he’s getting into. Just wait till he finds out about the piped in crowd noise and the other team playing in the stadium…

    Reply
  15. K

    Pointless to even reply to that.

    Not from Seattle, chances are he has never been on the turf at QWest, but he already knows the answer.

    Reply
  16. Hard to get a sense on a soccer blog maybe.

    But the feeling I do get is the people complaing are the same that don’t go to games….which is causing the problem ( no money ) in the first place.

    Reply
  17. wrong. one of the few MLS players that will be starting in South Africa this year. he will most definitely be a factor.

    Reply
  18. Hoping SSFC can retain those on the current roster and add a bit more creativity in midfield; if so, N’Kufo & Montero could have a fantasic season up front.

    But agreed madmax; the FO didn’t seem to be very aggressive in the offseason. But now that their coming down to it, they’re making moves. And big moves at that. They’ve addressed one of two major gaps: (1) Physical striker who can finish, and (2) creative midfielder.

    Let’s see if a midfielder arrives in the next few months….one can hope.

    Reply
  19. I think what DClee is trying to say is if you live in a MLS city, you should attend MLS games/buy season tickets if you can. That way the teams can afford to bring in better players. If you don’t do the above and complain about the product you are full of ish, have no right to complain about the league setup, and should STFU. It can’t work the other way around or MLS would fail like the NASL as DClee said above.

    Reply
  20. Sounders finally get off their backside. There should be enough time to make an impact in 2010. Do they anticipate losing one of the Freddies?

    Reply
  21. So what do you want Gerald. Do you want every team to go spend crazy or have one super team like the Cosmos and other feeder teams that never have a chance to win and then within 5 years have another top flight pro soccer league in the US go dark like the NASL.

    Why can’t people have any patience. Yes the current system isn’t the best and yes it favors the owners but it is one of the reasons that new blood is coming into the league in the ownership groups because it is a semi safe investment that people believe in but if training wheel are taken off then it could become less appealing.No one ever talks about this but MLS has a very diverse and solid group of owners where not even 7 years ago it was like Uncle Phil and HSG and if not for Phil Anschutz the league would have not survived probably.

    So yes I want the players to make more and have a better product on the field but until teams starting drawing more respectable numbers and getting higher TV ratings then I think the players and management need to just sign a modest deal and move on. Saettle and toronto are not the norm and 60-80% of the players in this league would probably not have jobs if not for MLS and should just be happy to be bale to play soccer for a living.

    Reply
  22. Blaise Nkufo is class act all the way. He’s a very respected professional. He’s not a typical jock. I remember vaguely reading his wife is a doctor and her wanting to practice in the US or Canada fueled his want to play in MLS. Blaise, despite the age, is a big pick up for the league. He’s a goal scorer and will help seattle. He’s still a Swiss international and will be a big part for them this summer.

    Reply
  23. TFC were reported to be looking at him wayyy back. I thought he looked really promising despite his age. I’m not happy about this, not one bit.

    Reply
  24. HSV got v. Nistelrooy, Seattle got N’Kufo.
    Both wacky prefixes.
    Both old strikers that rely on positioning.
    F%#$ yeah.

    Reply
  25. Why should the fact that a player is 35 necessarily be a problem? It all depends if he has been injury free, and what kind of striker he is. If he is a striker that relies on timing and positioning, and accuracy rather than speed (think of Martin Palermo) than he could be productive for some years to come.

    Reply
  26. When asked about whether there was allocation money left for new signings, Hanauer indicated a few days ago that they planned to use allocation money to cover salaries of players already on the roster. If Nfuko deal was done when he said that (I’m sure it was), it’s not a stretch to think that he’ll come in somewhere between $250k-$400k. If Schelotto isn’t getting DP money, I don’t see Nfuko getting DP money either. Especially if his goal is to be in the NW. I don’t think this is unclear at all. He’s not a DP.

    Reply
  27. I have played on the turf at Qwest and it’s quite amazing in comparison to grass. As a purist, we would all prefer a nice grass field, but that’s not realistic. We don’t need to rehash the turf v grass. What we have is optimal ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.

    Reply
  28. Actually, it’s a very, very good comparison. Blaise wasn’t even on the European map until he was 30. He’s had an injury free career and by all accounts, he’s got at least 3-4 years of high level production left in him, especially in the defense weak MLS. He’s also not a speed guy, but more of a plodder.

    Reply
  29. glad the Sounders beat the Vancouver Whitecaps to the punch on signing N’Kufo if he waited 1 more year…His wife and 2 kids live there!

    Reply
  30. “The turf in Seattle is softer than grass by a lot.”

    Hahahahaha!

    You Seattle guys will say anything at all. Fool yourselves, fine, but don’t try to fool us.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to 123 Cancel reply