Sporting Kansas City is not pursuing an option to sign All Whites captain Winston Reid permanently, but has not ruled out hope of him returning to the Major League Soccer Club for a second season.
Reid starred for Sporting KC this year on loan from West Ham United, where he remains contracted until 2023 on an estimated £3.4 million ($NZ6.8 million) a year.
Sporting announced this week that Reid was among a group of four players for whom it had “declined contract options” for the 2021 season.
However, Peter Vermes, Sporting KC’s head coach and sporting director, said at a press conference that negotiations were ongoing.
“We didn’t exercise the option for a very specific reason,” Vermes said. “We’ll continue to try, and have some type of discussions with West Ham to see if it’s feasible to bring the player back.”
Reid, who went to America looking for game time after a long-time knee injury, made 10 appearances (eight starts), scored one goal and contributed to two clean sheets in 728 minutes played.
He played the last of his 166 English Premier League games in March 2018 when he injured his knee after falling to the ground unconscious after a collision against Swansea City.
Sporting KC’s move has led to speculation about Reid’s future.
The 32-year-old will still get paid by West Ham for close to another three years, unless he agrees a transfer.
Chad Clark – a columnist on The Blue Statement, a Kansas City sporting website – speculated that Sporting KC had made their original statement “because the transfer fee could immediately make Winston Reid a Designated Player. This is a complicated move because the team already has quite a few players that could fill the DP role …’’
Clark said if Reid became available on a free transfer there would still be the “complicating matters of his salary’’.
“In 2020 he reportedly earned $US 4.6 million, though SKC were rumoured to be paying about 15 percent of that – in the neighbourhood of $700,000.
”Even if Sporting could get him on a free transfer [and who knows if they can], why would he take a massive pay cut to come to MLS? It seems even if he doesn’t play in England, he’ll get his huge salary to ride the bench or go out on loan elsewhere.’’
