When the Seattle Sounders selected Alex Roldan with the 22nd pick in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft, few people, if any, could have predicted where he’d end up three years later.
The Sounders had plenty of information on Roldan. He was an attacking central midfielder at nearby Seattle University and was the younger brother of Sounders midfielder Cristian. He scored 18 goals and added 17 assists in his four collegiate seasons, but his MLS stock was more or less a mixed bag.
Through his first two seasons with the Sounders, he struggled to find game time in a crowded veteran midfield that featured the likes of Nicolás Lodeiro, Gustav Svensson and his brother.