Real Salt Lake: Seattle selects Sturgis in draft

Nate Sturgis is an extremely talented midfielder and someone with a bright future in Major League Soccer — if he can stay healthy.

The expansion Seattle Sounders franchise is banking on the fact he can stay healthy. Seattle plucked Sturgis away from Real Salt Lake in Wednesday's expansion draft, one of 10 players it selected from around the league.

"It sucks to lose Nate Sturgis, but I also think it would've hurt to lose Dema (Kovalenko), Ian (Joy), Clint Mathis or our other established veteran players," said RSL general manager Garth Lagerwey.

Since being acquired from the L.A. Galaxy in a trade in June 2007, Sturgis played in eight total games for RSL out of a possible 45. Salt Lake's coaching staff wavered on whether to make Sturgis one of its 11 protected players instead of Nick Rimando up until Monday's league-imposed deadline. They ultimately decided to protect Rimando, a player who started 30 games in 2008 instead of Sturgis, who started two games.

"It's tough to tell because he hasn't been consistently healthy," said Lagerwey when asked about Sturgis' upside. "I think he has some real good potential. He can be a regular starter if he keeps himself healthy."

In 2007 it was a calf injury that derailed Sturgis, but this year it was a recurring hamstring injury. He initially injured it in Toronto on April 19, but as often happens with Sturgis, his recovery was very slow. The injury even cost him a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team in China.

If Seattle can find a way to keep him healthy, the St. Augustine, Fla., native could be a starter for years to come for the Sounders.

Lagerwey said selecting Sturgis fits the mold of the approach Seattle took with the expansion draft. Instead of using its deep pocket of allocation money to go after available veterans, it went with mostly young, cheaper talent.

The nine other players Seattle selected were Nate Jaqua (Houston), Jeff Parke (New York), Jarrod Smith (Toronto), Khano Smith (New England), Peter Vagenas (L.A. Galaxy), Tyson Wahl (Kansas City), James Riley (San Jose), Stephen King (Chicago) and Brad Evans (Columbus).

Looking ahead to the offseason, Lagerwey said one of the club's biggest priorities is finding an attacking player.

"We tried a dozen different combinations up top, but we've got to find a pairing that can play game in and game out at a consistent level," said Lagerwey.

That means that forwards like Kenny Deuchar, Fabian Espindola, Yura Movsisyan and Robbie Findley can expect to find even more competition next year.

Lagerwey said he'd also like to see the team find an additional quality left-footed player.

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E-mail: jedward@desnews.com