The Sounders are not going to buy out Nelson Valdez’s contract.
Major League Soccer teams can buy out one player per offseason to free up the corresponding budget space. But in the middle of the year, guaranteed contracts are going to count against the salary cap regardless.
Seattle could shop the struggling veteran forward on the transfer market once the summer window opens, but Valdez is unlikely to be a hot commodity in the midst of a season wracked by injuries and inconsistency.
“You could (sell him), but I think there’s a little bit of a misunderstanding of that as well, in the sense that a player has to want to go,” Sounders general manager Garth Lagerwey said this week.