Many of the new faces at Sounders FC training camp aren’t entirely new. Even defender Tyrone Mears, who played his entire career in Europe before joining Seattle, spent some time around the club last summer.
Mears was originally contacted by Clint Dempsey, someone he knows from his years in the Barclays Premier League. The 31-year-old gladly accepted his invitation to train with the Rave Green and check out the Emerald City for a couple of weeks. At the time Mears had very little knowledge of the club and soccer in America, which explains why he was stunned by the quality of the organization.
“I saw the following, the standard of the club and the training ground. It’s all very good – one of the top clubs in the world,” Mears said on Saturday following the first Sounders FC training session of the year.
Mears added that his new teammates have been extremely welcoming on and off the pitch, telling him where to move during drills and advising him on the best places to live in Seattle.
Due to leg injuries, Mears missed a fair amount of time during his three seasons with Bolton Wanderers from 2011-2014. Asked if he felt a bit rusty on Saturday, Mears said he is healthy and fit as the preseason begins. He trained with Premier League club Everton this past fall in order to stay in shape.
Sounders FC acted quickly by signing Mears shortly after DeAndre Yedlin departed for Tottenham Hotspur. Mears has a lot of similarities to Yedlin, which assured General Manager and President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey that the Englishman will make an immediate impact on the club’s backline.
“He’s definitely a player that we added as a faster player to add some width,” Lagerwey said. “He hasn’t played a lot of matches lately, so we’ve got to see how that goes over the course of preseason.”
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Troy Perkins had a feeling the question was coming. He just didn’t think it would be the very first question asked to him by the media at his very first training session with Sounders FC.
“What’s it like to be here after being in Portland for a couple of seasons?”
Perkins chuckled before explaining that it’s an “interesting” feeling. The veteran goalkeeper last played for Seattle’s Cascadia Cup rival in 2012, and to Perkins it seems like it’s been even longer than three years.
“I’m extremely happy to be here,” he said.
Like Mears, Perkins says he was a bit overwhelmed when he first saw his new club’s fan support. He knows the Rave Green are coming off their best season yet, one in which they won their fourth Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and first Supporters’ Shield.
Perkins is also aware that Stefan Frei started every MLS fixture in 2014 and played a major role in both of those titles. His goal is to push Frei for that starting spot, and if he doesn’t earn it, to contribute as much as he can during a 2015 season that will feature Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions League matches.
“At this point we’re all on level ground, and it’s a competition,” Perkins said. “At the end of the day, the coach will make a decision.
“Come game day, I’m going to be his biggest fan if he’s on the field.”
