The offseason has well and truly begun for Sporting Kansas City as David Lee made his first official decisions as the new Chief Soccer Officer of the club moving on from at least 12 players from the 2025 roster, with one in negotiations to stay, leaving only 13 currently rostered players going into the 2026 season.
This leaves a mountain of work to accomplish over the next 10 weeks as he and his staff look to reload this roster with players before preseason training begins in early January. While it is a significant endeavour, it is of course something we all expected and he certainly signed up for when taking on the job.
Lee met with the media not long after the decisions were made public, and spent a good 25 minutes discussing the opportunities that the team has this offseason, his thoughts on the players remaining on the roster, as well as his thought process for identifying new players and the manager meant to coach them. There is a lot of work ahead, but Lee appeared to be a man not only aware of the task at hand, but also invigorated by potential it provided.
We will dig into all of that information, adding our thoughts and context and what we hope for and expect to see from this offseason, as well as checking in on the beginning of the MLS Playoffs, as well as the USWNT as they gear up for their match in Kansas City against New Zealand.
Cody - we no longer have to make any predictions or provide any personal opinions on which players should stay or go, those decisions have been made, and they largely aligned with what we both have been suggesting likely would and should happen once the season ended.
To do a quick recap, 6 players had their options declined, who were Tim Leibold, Nemanja Radoja, Khiry Shelton, Mason Toye, and Ryan Schewe, who has since re-signed to a new contract with the club(more on this later)
Additionally, 7 more players’ contracts or loans expired and will not be returning, namely Joaquin Fernandez, Logan Ndenbe, Erik Thommy, Robert Voloder, Memo Rodriguez, Andrew Brody and Alan Montes. Santi Munoz’ loan also expired but the club is looking into options for retaining his services.