The Seattle Sounders have parted ways with Homegrown player Seyi Adekoya. Adekoya, a Seattle native who joined the team in 2017 after three seasons at UCLA, only made two appearances for the first team in his rookie season.
He’d been absent from training for several weeks, both with the first team and United Soccer League affiliate Sounders FC 2. When asked about Adekoya during training Tuesday, Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer said, “I’m glad you guys asked that because there was a little bit of social media stuff going around. We have parted ways with Seyi. I just didn’t see him getting much playing time here. Seyi is a good kid, he’s one of our homegrowns. We wish him the best of luck. He’s a nice kid and we wish him well in the future.”
Adekoya’s two appearances lasted a total of 77 minutes on the pitch, both in 3-0 road losses for Seattle. With S2, Adekoya appeared 13 times with six starts and scored once.
It is unclear what the future holds for the Seattle native, but Adekoya’s departure leaves the Sounders short at striker and particularly bereft of speed up top. A lack of speed on the front end of the formations was a major reason for Seattle’s struggles in a 1-0 defeat to Montreal Mar. 31 and has troubled the team ever since the loss of Jordan Morris to a season-ending ACL tear Feb. 22.
For Adekoya, the 22-year-old must now find a new team to join or consider returning to finish his education. Adekoya pondered medical school before deciding to join the professional ranks with his childhood club, where he once ranked as the fastest player in the Sounders academy.