Sounders Sign Freddie Ljungberg
Today, the Seattle Sounders are to announce that they have singed former Swedish international Freddie Ljungberg to a $2.5M contract. The former Gunner hasn’t been on form as of late. After playing very little for Arsenal during the 06-07 season, Ljungberg made a move to West Ham where he spent most of his time on the injured list. He was then given a release from his contract, and had been in contact with a few MLS squads.
The move is a very interesting one. Ljungberg was an integral part of the Arsenal dynasty in the early-to-mid 2000’s and could play with the best in the world. As of late, though, he has been injury prone and hasn’t been able to capture his past form. This move has me wondering if maybe this is a case of Lauren Robert all over again. Expect him to be given the captaincy from the get-go and for Seattle to hope he can stay away from injuries.
One has to think that this experience is going to be an eye opener for Freddie. He is going to see a lot of player movement from this Sounders team as is typical for an expansion. It will seem as though he has new teammates every week, and Ljungberg will still have to adjust to the playing style of the league. Time will have to tell if he can adapt to the MLS and thrive in the league.
This is the first time an expansion team has started their first season with a designated player in their lineup. Both San Jose and Toronto, the other two teams who had the option, said that they would like to build a winning team and then use the designated player spot as the “final piece of the puzzle”. It will be interesting to see how well this method works, giving a bit more insight into the proper way to build a team in Major League Soccer.
I think this is a good move by the Seattle GM, bringing in a player of Ljungberg's quality and reputation will give an added shot of oomph to the new team and should raise fan interested in the Sounders. Especially with the team effectively jumping up a league it gives the fans that have previously stayed away the "oh they signed a DP" factor which may make them turn into devoted MLS Sounders fans. Be interesting to see how they build the team now they have Freddy in the lineup.
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