Seattle Sounders have reached an agreement with influential playmaker Nicholas Lodero over a three-year contract extension, according to informed sources on the situation to MLSsoccer.com.
The Uruguayan nominee is set to enter the final year of his previous contract, and the Saunders are using the 2021 option to keep him at least another season on Rave Green. Correspondingly, he is said to have received interest from al-Hilal, the Saudi Arabian organization that made the big spending in October.
Lodero’s last contact year in 2021 and what’s next:
I knew it might be my last year, so I didn’t want to think about what to do next, I just wanted to focus on this season … All I know is that on Saturday I want to go to Uruguay and see my family. SportsSportsPulso pic.twitter.com/Bw0j0oNFm8
– Nico Moreno (@ELROLONW) December 10, 2020
But now, according to MLS Players Association documents, the compensation guarantee for 2019 was more than $ 2.5 million, and Seattle could go into off-season planning with greater certainty about the future.
Signed for nearly $ 6 million from Boca Juniors in July 2016, the fifth largest in MLS history at the time, the biggest hit in Lodero Seattle. His arrival immediately sparked a dramatic turnaround in his first season, giving the 2016 MLS Cup a run for the title, and the Sounders being perennial Cup contenders, winning back in 2019 and reaching the 2017 and 2020 finals. He has 33 goals and 58 assists in 121 regular season MLS matches to date, as well as 8g / 10a in post-season action.
Finaling the 2020 MLS Best Eleven Honor and London Donovan MVP Award, Lodero turns 32 in March and is centered on Seattle’s approach. Beyond the nose for his creativity and goal, he is one of the hardest-working players in the league on both sides of the ball, playing through no doubt the Saunders ’disappointing performance in Saturday’s MLS Cup final.
Seattle is ready to bet that he will continue to accelerate their team in the years to come.