Sounders FC Announcement Coming Wednesday

With the MLS Summer Transfer Window closing on Wednesday evening, the Seattle Sounders are preparing to make an announcement in the morning regarding a new acquisition, according to Garth Lagerwey, who joined Jackson Felts on Sports Radio 950 KJR's Sounders Weekly on Tuesday evening.

This quote follows multiple reports last week that Bournemouth left back Brad Smith would be joining Seattle prior to the window closing this week.

Lagerwey's comment leaves little doubt of Wednesday's announcement and any doubt remaining was cleared up as Sounders FC General Manager went on to say, "We're not acquiring a left back. We're acquiring a left-sided player. If we had interest in such a thing. What we want are qualities that our team doesn't have."

Speaking in regards to the qualities the club looked for in acquiring a new player, as Lagerwey could not confirm the signing of Smith on Tuesday evening, he said, "We'd be looking for a fast, athletic profile and somebody that could play potentially up a line so that we have some more attacking diversity...We want a player who's got some flexibility to him and what we want more than anything is competition for spots."

While Smith has spent the majority of his career at left back, clearly the Sounders have plans to use the Australian as a left winger as well in the midfield alongside midfielders Nicolas Lodeiro and Cristian Roldan. Smith's versatility will also upgrade a position at left back that has seen Nouhou and Waylon Francis compete for starting time throughout the season.

It is not completely clear in what capacity Smith will be joining Seattle, as details of the transfer have not yet been confirmed, but Lagerwey spoke at length Tuesday about loans and the advantages they serve in MLS.

"We have to consider new markets and new deals that we didn't have access to before," Lagerwey said. "Honestly doing a lot of business in England just didn't make a lot of sense. It's the highest paying league in the world. It was almost certainly inefficient. But when you talk about some of the young players in England and in that TAM category, all of a sudden those guys are available. And they're not available to buy because their buy-prices are still very, very high. But on loan, you can take some portion of a salary and you can make it work, at least for a discrete period of time."

Talking generally about the benefits of loan acquisitions, without specifically mentioning Smith, Lagerwey continued, "In certain spots we just need a spark. We need a little something in the short term and we'll see how that plays out in the next...a little bit over 24 hours left in the transfer window."

Smith, a 24 year old from Penrith, Australia, has spent the last two seasons with AFC Bournemoth in the English Premier League as well as spending time with Liverpool starting in 2013. Follow Smith on Twitter, @bradsmith_94.

With time still left to acquire players, and the club missing out on signing Peruvian attacker Paolo Hurtado last week, the Sounders may not just be adding Smith, according to Lagerwey.

"It'll be fun to see if we can get anything else done before the window closes."

Listen to the full Sounders Weekly episode from Tuesday below featuring Lagerwey, former Sounders FC defender and current broadcast analyst James Riley, and audio from Head Coach Brian Schmetzer.