In his five years as General Manager, Garth Lagerwey and his team have done an admirable job of remaking the Sounders youth development, racking up awards and titles at the youth levels. But translating that success to the first team is arguably the final frontier of the Seattle Sounders youth development strategy, and as of yet, they’ve haven’t conquered it.
Unicorns aside (see: Morris, Jordan and Yedlin, Deandre), the Sounders have by their own acknowledgement not quite been able to turn that talent into consistent, productive first team players. So when new sporting director Craig Waibel lands in Seattle next week to officially begin his duties, cracking that code will be near the top of his considerable to-do list.