Sounders Academy product Marlon Vargas has signed a professional contract with Seattle Sounders FC 2, becoming the third Academy player this year to forgo NCAA eligibility in favor of a USL contract. He joins 2018 direct-from-Academy signees Ray Serrano and Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez, as well as 2017 signees Shandon Hopeau, Sam Rogers and Azriel Gonzalez, in what has clearly become an organizational priority.
Vargas joined the Sounders Academy in 2016 from the Central California Aztecs. The 17-year-old is a goal-dangerous midfielder who often set up on the left wing for the Academy. Vargas scored 14 goals in 19 starts for the Sounders U17/18s in the 2017/18 Academy season.