With the team’s offseason officially underway as of Saturday night, St. ÑÇÖÞÎÞÂë City SC made its first moves Tuesday morning, picking up options on seven players and declining those of two others, though the team said it is still in negotiations with one of them, right back Jake Nerwinski.
City SC also didn’t pick up the option for midfielder John Klein, who got promoted from City2 in midseason and started six games for the first team but saw his playing time disappear when the summer transfers became eligible and the team got healthy again. Klein will still play for City2 in the Next Pro playoffs on a voluntary basis.
Options were picked up by City SC for midfielders Chris Durkin, Indiana Vassilev, Hosei Kijima and Akil Watts; defenders Jayden Reid and Michael Wentzel; and goalkeeper Ben Lundt.
With those moves, everyone on the 2024 club’s contract situation except Nerwinski is settled for 2025. All the players whose contracts were to expire after 2024 have either been moved elsewhere or re-signed. With the exception of Lundt, the club also holds an option for after the 2025 season for each of the players retained Tuesday.
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Nerwinski seemed like an easy decision for most of the season, notably between the start of March and mid-June, when he made just one appearance, coming on as a stoppage time sub against Austin while Tomas Totland became Bradley Carnell’s go-to choice at right back. Nerwinski made starts in two of Carnell’s final three games as the team’s injury situation reached a critical level, and then, under interim coach John Hackworth, gradually found favor as Totland’s defense slipped over the long MLS season. Nerwinski started four of City SC’s final eight games.
While Nerwinski wasn’t among the highest-paid City SC players, his 2024 salary, $277,500, was high enough to make finding a lower-priced option possible, especially because Totland had clearly become the top choice at the position.
The club signed Nerwinski as a free agent prior to its first season, and he, along with Tim Parker, was among the players brought on to give a team with a lot of players new to the league some actual MLS experience.
Three of the players the club addressed on Tuesday — Klein, Wentzel and Reid — were players who had been with City2 who the club was forced to sign at midseason when injuries made it a necessity and the club had exceeded the number of call-ups for each player. Klein and Reid both became regular starters until the team’s summer acquisitions were eligible and others got healthy again.
Reid, as a left back, and Wentzel, a center back, both are at positions where playing time is much more likely than for Klein in 2025. The returns from injury of Celio Pompeu and Tomas Ostrak will make the midfield position even more crowded.
Klein’s contract runs through Dec. 31, and he was given the option to continue playing for City2 during the MLS Next Pro postseason, which he will.
City SC now has 27 players under contract for 2025, plus three more who are away on loan and don’t count against that total. Teams are allowed to have 30 players on their roster.
The next big decision for the club will come in early December when it has to submit its protected list for the MLS expansion draft. The team can protect 12 players, with Homegrown players — Miguel Perez, Caden Glover, Tyson Pearce and Mykhi Joyner — separately protected.
City2 to face The Town
City2 will face The Town FC, the developmental team for the San Jose Earthquakes, in the conference semifinals of the MLS Next Pro playoffs at 4 p.m. Sunday at CityPark.
Under Next Pro’s pick-your-opponent system, who City2 would play was uncertain. North Texas, the top seed in the West, went according to form and picked the No. 4 Tacoma Defiance, leaving No. 2 City2 to play The Town, the No. 3 team in the West.
Last year, The Town, then known as Earthquakes II, beat City2 in the first round 2-0.