TUKWILA, Wash. – The road to acquiring Uruguayan midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro was a long and winding one for the Seattle Sounders.
By the time Lodeiro signed with Seattle from Argentine powerhouse Boca Juniors in July, the Sounders had been following him for the better part of a year. Scouting director Chris Henderson, general manager Garth Lagerwey and then-head coach Sigi Schmid had watched countless hours of film on their most-coveted target and worked their connection with Boca Juniors head coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto – who played under Schmid for two seasons as a member of the Columbus Crew in 2007-08.
But there were still roadblocks that led to a whirlwind of speculation and delays – and questions as to whether the deal would ever actually come to fruition.
“With Nico being in the Copa Libertadores [tournament with Boca Juniors], we had to wait for that date,” Henderson told MLSsoccer.com following a recent Sounders practice at Starfire Sports Complex. “There was a lot of things dealing with Boca trying to get the deal done and sometimes those take a while.”
The on-field implications of making the deal happen were obvious for the Sounders. Lodeiro, 27, is a dynamic playmaker, possessing a unique combination of uncanny vision and technical skill as a passer that allows him to deliver service to teammates in a way that few other players can replicate.
But there was another factor altogether that made the Sounders feel as though their persistence would ultimately reap big rewards: A personality that had made Lodeiro a well-liked and respected member of every locker room he had ever been a part of, and one that Seattle thought would translate well to MLS.
“We were willing to wait for Nico because we believe in his character off the field as well as his abilities on it,” Lagerwey said shortly after the signing was completed.
Added Henderson: “His personality, when you get to know him, you realize that he’s a pretty happy, outgoing person and positive. I think those types of personalities can settle pretty quickly [in MLS]. ... Nico, you could tell, was one of those guys who cared about his teammates, ultra-competitive. You knew all the characteristics he was going to bring to the table.”
Since the deal to bring Lodeiro to the Sounders was finally completed on July 26, he’s been arguably the league’s hottest player and spearheaded a turnaround that saw Seattle morph from a Western Conference afterthought into one of the league’s hottest teams.
He scored four goals and bagged eight assists in just 13 regular-season games and has added three more in the postseason, leading the Sounders to a Western Conference Championship appearance that kicks off on Tuesday at CenturyLink Field against the Colorado Rapids (10 pm ET; FS1, TSN1, TSN3, RDS2). On Monday, he was named the 2016 MLS Newcomer of the Year.
Lodeiro’s production on the field has spoken for itself. But his influence in Seattle’s locker room is also apparent. Before his team debut against the LA Galaxy on July 31, he famously made the bold move of turning off the locker-room radio that was blasting its customary pregame hype music, sending a message that it was time to hone in on the task at hand.
It was a gesture that might have seemed bizarre or out of line had it come from a source that hadn’t already commanded credibility.
“It would have been difficult had he tried to force the things he had done,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said. “What he was is he was himself. Quietly, made a subtle change here, a subtle change there and you couple that with the quality he has out on the field, it was easy to see he was the real deal.
"Those changes were not anything that was shocking to anybody. His leadership is both verbal and through his example.”
Sounders midfielder Alvaro Fernandez has known Lodeiro since 2009 when they first played together on Uruguayan side Nacional. The two have remained friends and were in contact while Lodeiro was mulling over making the move to Seattle, with Fernandez giving him positive reviews of the club that he had previously played for from 2010-12.
Asked how he would describe his teammate, Fernandez noted the contrast between Lodeiro’s engaging persona in the locker room with the competitive fire that he plays with on the field that teammates feed off of.
“There’s two different people,” Fernandez said. “One on the pitch and the other one in his private life. He’s the type of person that always wants to win. But outside the pitch, he’s really calm, a family man.”
As the Sounders try to move past the Rapids and to their first-ever MLS Cup, Lodeiro has looked as locked in as he has all season, bagging three goals in Seattle’s semifinal series against FC Dallas. After his 58th-minute dagger in the first leg gave the Sounders what would prove to be an insurmountable three-goal aggregate cushion, he leapt into the arms of a group of delirious fans, sending the CenturyLink Field crowd into bedlam.
Now, with only one series standing between the Sounders and a shot at a historic first championship, his sights are set on the finish line.
“Every time I put on a jersey for a team, in this case Seattle, my objective is to win,” he told reporters on Monday. “We’re getting close to that point. I want to earn it even more now, especially for my teammates that had such a difficult beginning of the season. Our objective as a group is to earn the MLS Cup.”
