Well, we won’t have Soony Saad to watch kick it around anymore.

Saad, a former No. 1 ranked prospect on our Top 100 List and more recently one of the nation’s best at Michigan, has graduated to the professional ranks after he was acquired by Major League Soccer’s Sporting Kansas City on Tuesday.

Sporting won the MLS weighted draft lottery, a supplement to the January SuperDraft, and promptly chose the dynamic striker who has been lighting up scoreboards for years.

“We scouted Soony in college and we were highly interested,” said Sporting Kansas City manager Peter Vermes. “At that time we weren’t sure if he was going to leave college so we had more of an eye for the future.

“We’re bringing in a player we think has an incredible upside and a huge ceiling. There is no doubt he would have been a first-rounder (had he been in the SuperDraft).”

Sporting is fortunate to have landed Saad, who recently explored his professional options in Europe where he had trials in Norway, Germany and Belgium before landing back in the States.

He will join Kansas City this week and initially see his match action with the club’s reserve team.   

“I’m super excited,” said Saad, from his home in Michigan. “During my time in Europe I felt like my game improved a lot. After it didn’t work out there I was looking for the best way to reach a great professional training environment. I could not have hoped for a better team than Kansas City.”

Known for his goal-scoring prowess and penetrating blows on the ball, Saad made quite the impact in just one season at Michigan. He led the NCAA in scoring with a school-record 19 goals last season and helped guide the unsung Wolverines to the College Cup.

Saad was called into U.S. U20 Men’s National Team camp this past December alongside international prospects like Josh Gatt and Joe Gyau, along with domestic standouts Perry Kitchen, Ben Sweat, Kelyn Rowe, Conor Doyle and Dylan Mares.  

Saad will now join Jonathan Kempin, Kansas City’s youngest ever signing, and a player with whom he is very familiar and has already exchanged welcome text messages.

With the pleasantries out of the way, the work will start for Soony as he begins the road he hopes will soon lead to the Sporting KC first team.

“With any player it all comes down to his training, level of effort and willingness to learn,” Vermes said. “With the reserve league, we have the kind of environment where players like Soony will have the ability to make the transition quicker. It gives him the chance to develop and not have results be the number one focus.”