The Seattle Sounders suffered a double-blow on Thursday when they announced that their top two assistant coaches were leaving the team. The news that Gonzalo Pineda was joining Atlanta United to be their new head coach was expected, with Sounder at Heart’s Niko Moreno being the first to report it on Wednesday. But the announcement that Djimi Traore would also be leaving to join a still-unnamed European club in a “leadership” role came as a bit of a shock.
There was no immediate word on if the Sounders would be compensated for losing either highly respected coach, or on who would be their immediate replacement.