Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Claros and Marcelin Waived

Sporting KC made some room on their roster today, and opened some international spots as the club announced that they had parted ways with midfielders Jorge Claros and James Marcelin. Claros' exit isn't that surprising after the news on the weekend reporting that he was on his way to China to join Qingdao Jonoon, Marcelin's on the other hand is a little surprising simply because of the fact that the midfielder had just been signed back in December.

With the number of defensive minded midfielders on the roster though, some moves were definitely going to need to be made. Kansas City still has Servando Carrasco, Roger Espinoza, Mikey Lopez, Soni Mustivar, and Paulo Nagamura who all play a more defensive role in the midfield, so making that a little less crowded was something that needed to happen at some point.

Claros' career in KC will be highlighted by two things, Sporting's long pursuit of Claros, the team almost brought him in during the 2013 summer transfer window, but couldn't get him until the summer window this past year. The second thing he'll be remembered for is the three game suspension he picked up for "inappropriate language" late in the season. In the end he made seven appearances in league play, four in the CCL, and one in the playoffs for Kansas City. In the end, Claros really just didn't seem like he was fitting into KC's formation that well. He hadn't played a role so far this preseason having been on duty with the Honduran national team for part of it.

Marcelin had played in KC's first three preseason games against Portland, Tucson, and Colorado, but didn't see the field on Saturday against the Seattle Sounders. At the time that wasn't surprising as Paulo Nagamura and Erik Palmer-Brown also didn't play in the game, similar to Mikey Lopez not playing against Colorado. I'd assumed it was just a case of Peter Vermes wanting to give different guys a look and didn't put much into it at the time.

The departure of the two players opens up two international spots on the roster, giving KC three spots to play with heading into the final weeks of preseason.

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