Sporting KC Finally Make a Big Signing

For the Glory KC is back with the 117th episode of the show! Sporting Kansas City kept us on our toes through an entire phase of preseason, but they finally got a blockbuster deal over the line on Saturday night. The team announced they paid the LA Galaxy $4 million for star striker Dejan Joveljic to make him their newest Designated Player. We break down his history (he's just 25) in Los Angeles, Germany and Serbia. How we think he'll fit in with Sporting KC and what it means for the other center forwards on the roster (William Agada, Mason Toye). While this is a very different SKC team than the Galaxy team he just left, LA wasn't really good until last season. And even if you think it's a bad move, essentially, he's replacing Alan Pulido. SKC appeared set to have Pulido for two more years at way too much money but instead they have a younger, faster, more athletic DP set to wear the #9 jersey. In addition to the Joveljic signing, another rumored popped up this week for 21-year-old CB Bryan Okoh from RB Salzburg. We look at his potential fit and if it's a good use of a U-22 Initiative spot. Sporting KC also played their third and final preseason game of phase one of preseason. It got off to a much better start with the first team heading into halftime up 1-0. The game slipped away when full changes were made but Vermes said the team made "significant progress." We also give injury updates on a few players. The last big of SKC news comes in the form of the US Open Cup. Sporting KC will not be involved with SKC II replacing them. They won't be in Leagues Cup either. It's just CONCACAF Champions Cup and MLS play for the first team this year. That means if KC can't get past Inter Miami, they'll have more time to focus on MLS play and far less midweek fixtures. Finally, the KC Current had a very busy week. The biggest move is likely the contract extension to Temwa Chawinga through 2028. They also traded for Haley Hopkins from the North Carolina Courage. They re-signed Elizabeth Ball and Kristen Hamilton, and they had their 2025 kit leaked by Footy Headlines. In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including: Apple MLS Season Pass set to auto-renew February 16th Updates on Garcia and Suleymanov rumors Istvan Urbanyi is the new SKC II coach (and Ike is still there too) MLS will not send broadcast crews to all games this year Denver is officially an NWSL team Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC trade for Dejan Joveljic - 7:05 Another SKC rumor - 29:43 A 3rd SKC preseason loss - 37:33 No US Open Cup for Sporting KC - 47:43 KC Current make several moves - 52:00 Digital Crawl - 1:04:43 As a special gift to For the Glory KC listeners and KC Soccer Journal readers, Backheeled dot com is giving away 30 days of their amazing, independent American soccer coverage for free. If you decide you want to turn that into a paid membership, they'll give you 10 percent off too. Just follow this link! Big thanks to Splitter Conspiracy (listen to them here) for our theme music made with the permission of the KC Cauldron.