Sporting KC is re-signing Graham Zusi and Roger Espinoza. We talked to them about why

The conversations were separated by a few hours Thursday afternoon, the first with Graham Zusi, the longest-tenured player in Sporting Kansas City history, before the second with Roger Espinoza, who would be swiftly narrowing that gap if only Zusi would let him.

Let’s cut to the chase off the top here: The two mainstays for the organization have signed on for another year, with their contracts also including an option for 2024. Sporting KC also re-signed left center back Andreu Fontas to a two-year deal.

Espinoza and Zusi both recently turned 36, just two years shy of the oldest player to appear in MLS last year. It’s the proverbial elephant in the room for a club that once sat at the bottom of the Western Conference a year ago before a late-season push moved them up the table, though still not a far enough jump to qualify for the playoffs.

That’s the reason for these conversations, and each provided similar answers on their motivation for continuing to play, and more specifically continuing to play here.

Let’s preface their replies by saying these are not financially-preventive contracts to what else Sporting would like to accomplish this offseason, primarily finding a right center back and secondarily a young striker. They are supplementary. Fontas’ deal is also less expensive than his previous rate.

But back to the replies. They each, of course, broached the topic of their age and their intrinsic drive, but their most telling answers were not about themselves. Instead, each other.

Graham, how would you quantify what value Roger can bring at his age?

“Oh, my, gosh,” Zusi began, “He’s been so invaluable to the club. I guess I hesitate to call him underrated because in my eyes, I rate him as high as anyone I’ve ever played with in this club. So I hate to use the term underrated, but he’s been so invaluable to this club in terms of being a big-time leader — linking the youth to the more experienced players. I mean, gosh, I can go on and on about that. His value to this club is enormous, and clearly there’s a reason that he’s still here. There’s so much value in having him in the locker room.”

Roger, how would you quantify what value Graham can bring at his age?

“He’s one of the best players for this club for awhile. But it is amazing how strong he has gotten over the years — I mean the guy is playing 90 minutes every single game,” Espinoza said. “The young players, they notice that. He sets an example for the young players, and that’s important. He’s a fit dude who can still be in the league for awhile, and he’s one of the most technical players in the league. I’m just happy that we’re both coming back together.”

And then a joke.

Kind of.

“If the kids get out of hand,” Espinoza said, “Graham can help me with that.”

Zusi has won four trophies with Sporting KC over a franchise-record 395 games and 14 seasons. No player has played for one club and only one club for a longer stint in MLS history, actually. Espinoza has won three U.S. Open Cups in Kansas City. (He joined the team a year earlier than Zusi, in 2008, but transferred to English-side Wigan for two seasons, his stint there overlapping with the 2013 MLS Cup.)

They have been around long enough that they were acquired via the MLS SuperDraft, a dinosaur in the league’s player-acquisition mechanism these days.

They’ve each played in FIFA World Cup tournaments, Zusi for the United States in 2014, and Espinoza for Honduras in both 2010 and 2014.

Neither mentioned any of that about the other, you noticed.

Because it’s not why they’re returning for another season, and they’re aware enough to know that has little to do why Sporting KC wants them back.

It’s the other stuff.

Look, the age is something we can’t ignore in a sport in which speed and fitness are choice attributes. Sporting KC manager and sporting director Peter Vermes said his intention isn’t to play Espinoza 34 games in what will become a more crowded midfield in 2023 than it was in 2022. That would be, uh, a lot to ask for a 36-year-old at that position. Zusi will be spelled by 19-year-old Kayden Pierre, for whom Sporting sees a bright future but not ready for a full-time role just yet.

Espinoza has long been a locker-room bridge between younger players and veterans on a club that rosters players nearly two decades apart. (Pierre was 6 when Zusi was drafted by Sporting.) Espinoza has never minced words with teammates on the practice field or after games, a quality for which Vermes has long prized.

In the past, Zusi embraced more of a lead-by-example role — the two players signifying the best of each world, so to speak — though Zusi has become more vocal in recent seasons, Vermes has observed.

Aside from the on-field production — and, absolutely, when you’re on the elder side of 35, you’re fighting the effects on the body — that’s the investment that Sporting is making.

“When guys like that speak, the players listen,” Vermes said. “So it’s incredibly important for us to have guys like that around.”

Every team rates that quality differently, and if you’ve followed this one for more than a week, you should know Sporting KC rates it highly. These extensions should not surprise you. There’s a background story to that, with Vermes prioritizing the time to establish a specific culture, a sort of set of non-negotiable guidelines, that he now counts on his players to not just abide by but reinforce.

And, well...

“There are certain things in terms of quote-unquote legacy that I feel strongly about, and none of them have to do with stats like appearances,” Zusi said, after being asked about his place atop the franchise’s appearances list. “That’s keeping the culture of the club strong while I’m here, and then leaving it in the best hands possible.

“When I eventually do leave, that’s the kind of stuff I absolutely care about — and leaving no doubt in the fans’ minds, as well, about how much I’ve loved this club and my effort in what I’ve left on the field. Those are the things I care more about than the stats you mentioned.”