All offseason, Sounders General Manager and President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey lamented how the collective bargaining agreement negotiations between Major League Soccer and the MLS Players Association made it difficult to do his job, because without knowing the rules of the game, it was tough to play.
So when the players and owners agreed to a new deal in January, Lagerwey set about improving the team for the 2020 season and beyond, bringing in DP midfielder João Paulo and TAM defender Yeimar Gómez Andrade. With those acquisitions, done in part to compete in the now-failed Concacaf Champions League run, Lagerwey indicated that most of the team’s financial arrows had been fired for this year.