> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Sounders GM Waibel Explains an Unusually Quiet Transfer Window - URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/seattle-sounders-craig-waibel-explains-quiet-transfer-window/ - Published: 2025-08-28T02:20:04.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T06:18:36.000Z - Author: Qasim Ali - Tags: News, Analysis, Sounders, Craig Waibel, Brian Schmetzer \[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1422"\] ![ Seattle Sounders general manager Craig Waibel addresses media during a press conference on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025 at Lumen Field in Seattle, Wash. (Seattle Sounders FC / YouTube) ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/waibel-format-original.jpg) Seattle Sounders general manager Craig Waibel addresses media during a press conference on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025 at Lumen Field in Seattle, Wash. (Seattle Sounders FC / YouTube) \[/caption\] It's been an overwhelmingly positive summer to be a Seattle Sounders supporter. The team was winless in the Club World Cup, but proved it can run with the best teams on the planet in three group stage games. It has made true on that appearance by losing just one of its 13 fixtures since that tournament and finds itself deep in the Leagues Cup with a [Wednesday semifinal against the LA Galaxy](https://sunfish-smilodon-3p8h.squarespace.com/config/?ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com) pending. The Sounders are also fourth in the MLS Western Conference standings with seven games left at 12-7-8 (W-L-D). So why has the chatter from fans online been decently negative toward this team's management while the team on the field continues to perform? In a word, inaction. While the Western Conference's premier sides have loaded up with the likes of European stars like Son Heung-Min and Thomas Müller, Seattle has had negotiations with less-known younger prospects go nowhere. And with the 2025 summer transfer window closed as of Aug. 21, Seattle is out of time to make something happen. Sounders general manager Craig Waibel addressed media for 30 minutes [before Sunday’s game against Kansas City](https://sunfish-smilodon-3p8h.squarespace.com/config/?ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com) to discuss those concerns of inaction. "It's been too long since we held a trophy above our head, and that's the destination, so that's the guiding light," Waibel said in the presser. ### Why Didn’t Seattle Make a Move? Waibel came back to three key points when asked why he didn’t follow through on signing a player. Money, the potential of prospects to make an impact immediately and the lack of interest in joining the MLS. "I don't want anyone to think there wasn't money. There's money," Waibel said. "Spending it on the right player is ultimately my job. … I think avoiding a mistake on the roster this summer was the most important thing." Waibel clarified that he had $2.5 million to $4 million to work with and an under-22 (U22) slot — a spot that was the main emphasis heading into this summer transfer window. Although Seattle had that money ready to go, Waibel went back to one point when describing why he couldn’t lure a U22 from Europe to his roster. The MLS rules allow U22 players to make just over $740,000 max, which is a tough sell when asking a younger player to move across the world to play in what he described as the 10th to 11th most competitive league. “In order to attract a player of consequence that's going to come in and have an immediate impact, it's very difficult to recruit players that aren't also being recruited by leagues that are sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth in the world,” Waibel said. "Those are the players we went after; we didn't go after unproven players." Waibel didn’t name any of the U22s he spoke with, but confirmed his organization went through thousands of profiles and whittled long conversations down to five or six players. Waibel also told members of the media that they were spot on for the most part in identifying those names, the most prominent of which was 22-year old striker Noah Ohio of Dutch side Utrecht (reported on by Niko Moreno and Jeremiah Oshan of Sounder at Heart). With each of those players’ negotiations falling through due to those nagging reasons, Waibel, by his account, was left with project players and prospects that would likely not see the pitch meaningfully in 2025\. That wouldn’t have aligned with his vision for this window, as Seattle has plenty of young talent like Osaze De Rosario, Snyder Brunell, Reed Baker-Whiting and others to develop. Waibel wanted to go big or go home. "I believe in the group we have in terms of depth," Waibel said. "I think getting better on the top end of this roster is where we needed to stay focused. "I didn't feel like handing the coaching staff another project was the right thing at this time." Waibel was quite clear about his reasoning for not making a move — the big, team-altering names didn't work out. The proof is in the pudding, by his account. Seattle had a number of prospects in the transfer window after its top choices fizzled out, but they didn't meet Waibel’s vision. It was truly top-end talent or nothing for the Sounders. "I think we could have gone out and got a hundred guys that wouldn't have helped us, pretty easily, probably in the last 24 hours of the window if we really wanted to,” Waibel said. "But that wasn't the goal." With the extra money left over, Waibel stressed the importance of having a "rainy day fund" to keep the essential players rostered going forward. But considering the dynamic landscape of an ever-evolving transfer market, it isn't like those days of conversations with prospects will go to waste. Finally, and most simply, Waibel said some of the players he spoke with just weren’t ready to leave home. Fair enough. ### Making Better Money Moves Allocation money is what makes the business of soccer churn these days. With allocation money, teams can essentially knock chunks of cash that count toward the MLS' $5.9 million salary budget out so that they can bring in marquee talent and have flexibility to keep their squads intact. With that in mind, allocation money is something Waibel feels his organization isn’t generating at a high clip. Seattle came into the 2025 campaign with just north of $4.2 million in General Allocation Money (GAM), good for the eighth-most in the MLS. To put that figure in perspective, No. 1 Atlanta had $6.5 million and No. 30 Houston had just over $2 million in GAM. "One of the things that I think we need to start addressing a little bit more directly is, when we're selling players, how we're obtaining more allocation money," Waibel said. To earn the two types of allocation money, GAM and Targeted Allocation Money (TAM), teams can do a number of things from missing the playoffs to literally trading players and assets for more funds. Most importantly, as Waibel said, is negotiating more money out of transfers. The issue with Waibel's statement? Seattle had a decent amount to play around with. With all the allocation considerations, he is still wary of overspending. Waibel brought up Seattle's Leagues Cup semifinal opponent in the LA Galaxy, which lost key players because they spent practically their entire budget to construct an MLS Cup winner in 2024. Waibel explicitly said he'd trade all of Seattle's cap money if he could guarantee a championship, but he understands it's never that simple. "We know for a fact that (same roster degeneration) happens to us if we spend every penny and we don't accomplish that feat," Waibel said. It doesn't hurt to stockpile cash, considering how much money this roster will cost after its performance this season. But this conversation didn’t exactly quell concerns about roster inaction. ### What Can the Sounders Still Do? Seattle can still sign free agents and Waibel said he would look into the possibility if the right fit comes up. In terms of pursuing young talent that met Waibel's criteria of impacting winning now, that door is closed. Waibel conveyed that his top picks under the age of 23 are all firmly under contract, as Seattle will need to wait until the winter to start those talks up. ### The Future Like many members of the Sounders, the team’s ability to compete against the best in the Club World Cup gave Waibel a completely new sense of confidence. He stated that the team had underperformed in his eyes up to that point, going 7-6-5 in MLS play before the anticipated tournament. “What the Club World Cup proved to us, including myself, is that we should have been better in the first half of the year, and that's not OK in sports,” Waibel said. Seattle has lost just once in its 13 fixtures since the Club World Cup, validating Waibel’s assessment of how good the team could be. But the most important portion of the season remains. With two more wins, Seattle could notch its first Leagues Cup title and has yet to show its potential in the MLS Cup Playoffs. Waibel and his crew will be evaluating this upcoming stretch, but he promised a change in any scenario. “The three games this week, plus the MLS playoffs, are going to tell us a little bit more about whether it's time to evolve the roster in terms of two positions, three positions, four positions. But there will be changes,” Waibel said. ### Waibel's Reputation After the Summer Many fans are upset that Seattle didn't take the big swing, but Waibel's point is that he couldn't force a move that wasn't there to make. Reports from Sounder at Heart placed Seattle's odds of landing a European U22 striker in Ohio at 50-50 at one point, with terms for a transfer in place. But the young player wasn't ready to make a move. Add to the fact that Danny Musovski was tossed last week and will miss an important Leagues Cup game with Jordan Morris struggling to stay on the pitch, and you have a team that really could have used another big name at the nine if it has title hopes. That being said, Waibel's vision for a deep roster that could stand the test of four major competitions in nine months is blossoming in front of our eyes. Jesús Ferreira was a contentious signing, but he's been a jack-of-all-trades for Schmetzer when the injury luck has soured. So have the young guys, as Snyder Brunell and Osaze De Rosario have added to an explosive offense quickly and been a testament to Seattle having arguably the best developmental program in the country. Fans are valid for wanting more out of Waibel, and he shouldn't get an A+ by any means for being the only GM not to make a move this summer. But it doesn't mean he's failed. Waibel recognized that this team has plenty of young players to develop as is, and that the money that would have been used on a big-name young player is better off in the bank when it comes time to pay the countless Sounders who have outperformed expectations and earned a raise. Waibel's comments were insightful and appeared genuine, as he made sure not to shy away from the fact that there was money to spend, but it just wasn't spent. Sometimes a wise man simply does nothing at all.