Obed Vargas
Five months ago, Obed Vargas of Anchorage made his MLS debut with the Seattle Sounders as an emergency call-up.
Now the Sounders want to keep him around for good after signing the 16-year-old soccer prodigy to a four-year Homegrown Player contract with a club option for 2026.
Vargas is the second Alaska teenager to sign with an MLS team in the last 13 months after Anchorage’s Hunter Sulte inked a deal with the Portland Timbers in November 2020.
Vargas, Sulte and Anchorage’s Ely Allen are the only three Alaskans to play in the MLS.
Vargas made his lone MLS appearance in July when the Sounders were missing 10 players. He filled in nicely, logging 77 minutes in a 1-0 victory over Austin FC, and was named one of the ‘Men of the Match.’ At 15 years, 351 days, he’s the third-youngest player to start a MLS match.
Vargas joined the Sounders Academy at age 14 from the Cook Inlet Soccer Club in Anchorage. He also represented the United States Youth National Team at the U-15 level.
He has played in Seattle’s farm system for the last two years, including the 2021 season with the Tacoma Defiance, a reserve team for the big club that plays in the USL Championship league.
He racked up an assist and started 20 matches for the Defiance. He led the team in tackles (28) and tied for fourth in matches played (28).
The Alaskan was the only player with the Defiance to receive a vote for the USL Championship Young Player of the Year award.
“Vargas is a hard tackler and exceptional worker, the proverbial gym rat. He projects as a passing network destroyer with a personal passing tree that integrates almost every angle equally,” wrote sounderatheart.com.
He is the 18th player the Sounders have signed to a Homegrown Player contract and the seventh on the current 21-player roster.
“It’s always great when we identify players that make an impact within our developmental systems, and evolve into contributing members of our first team,” Sounders Senior VP of Soccer & Sporting Director Craig Waibel said in a release.
