BALTIMORE -- With the 2016 SuperDraft complete, and this year's Generation adidas signings officially rostered, one oft-repeated amateur name remains unattached to an MLS contract: US international Jordan Morris, who has declared his intention to start a highly anticipated pro career.
The Stanford product – who developed at the Sounders FC academy – is currently on a training stint with Bundesliga side Werder Bremen, as he weighs an offer to become the highest-paid Homegrown Player in MLS history.
"We're following very closely," said MLS Commissioner Don Garber, during a break between rounds at the Baltimore Convention Center. "We very much want to sign Jordan. I know the Sounders are very focused on it.
"We're very hopeful that we'll be able to bring him into the league and have him represent this great generation of American players that have started and in many cases, like Landon Donovan, finished their careers in Major League Soccer."
Sounders coach Sigi Schmid said the team has remained in constant contact with Morris, aware and monitoring the time spent with Bremen. Schmid remains confident in their offer, both in the finances and the situation they'd be able to provide.
"The only thing I can liken it to is that as a college coach, I always told recruits: ‘I want you to see everything you want because I want you to be here because you want to be here," Schmid said. "But right now, Jordan’s following what he’d laid out as his plan and at the end of the day he’ll make a decision."
Seattle general manager Garth Lagerwey has plainly admitted there's no backup plan if Morris opts to sign elsewhere. In an interview during MLSsoccer.com's SuperDraft live stream, Lagerwey explained the salary cap mechanisms that limit the senior team from rostering any other player:
"The Homegrown's a different bucket," Lagerway said. "From a purely salary-cap standpoint, either you get Jordan Morris or you don't. There isn't another Homegrown in our pipeline, in our group, that we'll give that money to. Either it will go unused or it will go to Jordan."
In addition to academy ties, Morris' father, Michael, has served as the senior team's medical director and orthopedist since the club's inaugural MLS season in 2009.
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As long as he remains unattached, Morris is able to sign with Seattle at any time. The only note: MLS teams must be roster compliant by March 1, ahead of the regular-season openers that Sunday, which means that a roster spot must be free if Morris signs after that date.
"We very much believe that our league provides players with a great opportunity – and today more than ever before – to make a good livng, be trained well, have fantastic facilities and, in the case of Seattle, play in front of 45,000 fans, which is among the best in the world," Garber said. "Our goal is to do everything we can to have these players see MLS as a league of choice."
