Expansion team Orlando City hold the first overall pick of the 2015 MLS SuperDraft. But last year taught us that, even minutes before the event begins, it can change hands.
In the current circumstances, the Montreal Impact seem a suitor –MLSsoccer.com's Matt Doyle agrees. Forward Cyle Larin of UConn is the consensus No. 1 prospect, has signed a Generation adidas deal and wouldn’t fill an international roster spot for Montreal. Will they try to trade up from the No. 3 position? Perhaps.
“Look, if there’s an opportunity that we can move up, I think that, yeah, we would try, for sure, to move up,” Montreal head coach Frank Klopas told MLSsoccer.com via phone on Thursday. “But you never know what happens with the picks. There’s always some surprises. So you never know. We feel we’re in a good spot there. You look into it, but it all depends on what the cost of it is to move up, and if it’s worth it.
“That’s the thing,” Klopas continued. “You have to wait, depending on what the asking price is, whether it’s money, a player, see if it makes sense for the team.”
It’s a tricky process. Changing the fortunes of your team through one draft pick, as sometimes is the case in other sports, just won’t happen in MLS. As such, Klopas insisted that all draftees need time to adapt. But many have the right raw material – Klopas believes that this year’s draft pool is strongest in central defense and out wide. Oh, and at forward, of course.
“Being a GA, I think, gives you that ability – and the time –, when you have him in the right environment, to teach the player and bring him along,” Klopas said. “Not only his physical qualities, but technically, [Larin] is a good player. He can play with his back to goal. He's got pace. He'll be a guy that, in time, can produce and score goals at the next level. But there's some forwards like that, not just him, that I think will have that ability.”
