The Sounders could have triggered a mechanism as per league rules that could have kept him in Seattle for roughly half his 2018 salary amount. Instead, they let him pursue free agency to see what was out there for him in the MLS marketplace.
Sounders midfielder and captain Osvaldo Alonso, the team’s longest tenured player, would have needed to take a pay cut to stay with the team for the 2019 season.
That was the implication left by general manager Garth Lagerwey on Tuesday when responding to a question about the team’s decision to allow Alonso, 33, to seek free agency.