It’s been a rough run for Minnesota’s nicest rivals (whatever that means), and it goes much further back than just this season. With their recent elimination from 2026 postseason prospects, Sporting Kansas City has missed the playoffs for three consecutive years, landing in the league’s bottom three each time. After parting ways with soccer legend Peter Vermes last year and finishing out the season under Interim Head Coach Kerry Zavagnin, the club brought in Raphaël Wicky as Head Coach in January in the hopes of turning the tides.

Unfortunately for Wicky’s side, those tides have been very stubborn. SKC has only won back-to-back games once this season, with a current record of 6-21-4 and a goal differential of -40. To put it lightly… things could be better. 

In September, the club brought in new CSO David Lee. His contract runs all the way through 2032, showing a desire for a bit more stability. Paired with new owner Peter Mallouk, who purchased a majority stake in SKC back in 2025, the team’s sporting staff seemed to be setting up scaffolding to go after some pretty big players. (Rumors even included Mo Salah in the list of potential prospects.) Going into the secondary transfer window, something major needed to change, and it was time for Lee and his team to put their money where their mouths were.

Trading star striker Dejan Joveljić to a conference rival probably wasn’t exactly what the fans had in mind. The beloved forward was sent off to the Seattle Sounders, presenting a new and urgent need for a serious contributor to fill his boots. But the club’s new sporting staff had already signed another forward, and he had quite the statement to make.

The Game-Changer

Enter André Luiz.

Signed August 18 from powerhouse Olympiacos of the Greek Super League, the 24-year-old Brazilian joined SKC’s ranks as a DP forward on a five-year contract — again, showing the club’s push toward building something more long-term. The deal shattered the club-record transfer fee at over $18 million — three times what they got for Joveljić — and if that’s not a blazing beacon to pay attention, I don’t know what is.

Luiz debuted in 2021 with his boyhood club, Flamengo, and has totaled 28g/13a in 140 appearances across various clubs in the years since. He kicked off his MLS career with a bang on September 12, scoring a gorgeous goal to end SKC’s seven-game winless streak — and against a powerful LAFC side, no less.

In just nine starts, Luiz has already nearly caught up to Joveljić’s club-leading goal tally (which took Joveljić 20 games to tally, by the way), logging seven goals to Dejan’s eight and notching three assists in the process. He earned himself four Team of the Matchday honors in a row, bunching his seven goals scored into just five games — often as the only contributor. 

He’s been serving as a dynamic right winger in SKC’s favored 4-4-2, usually flanking Zorhan Bassong and Kwaku Agyabeng with Calvin Harris on the left. Luiz has settled into his new role with ease, speed, and the ability to finish from just about anywhere in the box, both on penalties and in run of play. 

One player isn’t enough to put SKC’s abysmal run of form to bed in half a season, and Wicky’s side is still short on wins and likely to win the Wooden Spoon. But Luiz is a major investment for this club, one that could combine with the likes of Capita Capemba, Stephen Afrifa, and Taylor Calheira to seriously rejuvenate Sporting’s attack into the Sprint Season and beyond. With Luiz as a starting point, I’d bet on Kansas City having a pretty significant turnaround sometime in the near future.