Adrian Hanauer will be a busy man. Now that the first season for Seattle Sounders FC is over, the club's general manager must make some tough roster decisions before the team reconvenes for training camp in January of next year.
First among those is settling the status of the team's two primary offensive threats. Neither Fredy Montero nor Freddie Ljungberg have committed to Seattle for the 2010 season. As the team cleared out its lockers Thursday, both players once again expressed a wait-and-see approach while they evaluate their options with their agents.
"We'll see what happens," Ljungberg said, echoing his comments from the past two weeks. "I'll sit down and discuss it in the offseason, but like I said, I love it in Seattle and I've had a great first season."
The Swede's market value might have gone up based on his performances for the Rave Green. After a disappointing, injury-plagued season with West Ham, Ljungberg has experienced a resurgence in Seattle, captaining the MLS All-Star team and finishing the year with nine assists. Despite Seattle's difficulties in finishing chances, Ljungberg led the league with five game-winning assists.
Ljungberg was also the most internationally recognized face on a Seattle team that averaged more than 30,000 fans per game in a commercially successful first season.
Ljungberg's agent has been seen speaking with Hanauer at training in previous days. He also helped Ljungberg launch a blog called Freddie Speaks Up! and an accompanying Twitter account. Ljungberg has also penned a column for ESPN Soccernet as he begins to expand his profile in the United States.
On the other side, Montero earned the league's Newcomer of the Year honor ahead of Ljungberg and teammate Kasey Keller. As a young player who can produce the rarest and most valued commodity in soccer -- goals -- Montero has been linked with several clubs in Europe.
Montero said through a translator that he going to take some time to get his mind off soccer before evaluating his next steps.
"Over the next week I am going to take some time and sit down with my agent and look at other options," Montero said through a translator. "I love the organization and I love the city. If there is an opportunity, I'll consider that. But I have to weigh it against other options and see how that best reflects me and my family."
The decisions could be linked. Ljungberg and Montero did combine for 14 goals and 16 assists during the 2009 campaign, but earlier in the season the pair didn't seem to sync offensively as Seattle endured a lengthy scoring drought. The problem seemed to be fixed by moving Nate Jaqua to right midfield and putting Ljungberg and Montero up top. However, team chemistry is a major priority for Seattle as they attempt to build on their success in 2010. Keller indicated that in order to protect team chemistry, he didn't anticipate any major personnel moves before next season.
Hanauer is out of town and unavailable for comment through Monday, but Seattle coach Sigi Schmid said he is expecting both players to be wearing Sounders green in 2010.
"Our expectation is that they'll both be back next year," Schmid said today.
Andrew Winner is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
