To say the Seattle Sounders have a somewhat spotty record when it comes to Designated Player signings is probably fair. For every Obafemi Martins, there’s been a Christian Tiffert. For every Fredy Montero, a Shalrie Joseph.
By any reasonable metric, Nelson Valdez probably belongs in the “flop” bin. In a little over a season’s worth of matches, the Paraguayan has only scored a handful of goals, and that’s including all competitions.
Coming into Thursday’s game, Valdez hadn’t scored in a MLS match in nearly a year. His lack of scoring had become a rather consistent talking point, but at every opportunity head coach Brian Schmetzer had sung his veteran forward’s praises.