TUKWILA, Wash. — Perhaps the most notable thing about the list of players whose options the Seattle Sounders exercised on Tuesday was how long it was. A year after winning the MLS Cup, and then immediately parting ways with 14 players, the Sounders only declined their option on one player (Callum Mallace, who never played after being acquired in a midseason trade).
One of the players who will be back is Clint Dempsey, whose re-signing had been long rumored but was only now made official. The Sounders’ leading scorer in both the regular season and the playoffs this year had an option for 2018, but he and the team came to terms on a reworked one-year deal that will keep him as a Designated Player, while also falling more in line with the rest of the roster.