Houston Dynamo sign 2 Homegrown players

(image via guhoyas.com)

The Houston Dynamo have announced their first two Homegrown signings of the year, signing both Kieran Sargeant and Sebastian Rodriguez. Sargeant has signed a two-year contract with options for a further two years. Rodriguez has signed on for another year with Dynamo 2 in MLS NEXT Pro but has signed a pre-contract with the first team starting in 2025. This contract will be a two-year deal with options for an extended three years taking it all the way until 2029.

Kieran Sargeant has been a consistent figure for the U17 group of the Dynamo Academy. He won a player of the season award in 2020 for his excellent play. He has since spent the last three years at Georgetown being a key figure in their backline. In three years he managed to score four goals and add an impressive fifteen assists from left back. Ben Olsen has shown that he likes to get attacking fullbacks heavily involved within his system through Griffin Dorsey, Franco Escobar, and Brad Smith. Kieran adds a bit of flair and is as direct going forward as we have seen from Dorsey this past season. At 20 years old, Kieran can hope to find some minutes in a team that heavily suits his skillset.

Sebastian Rodriguez has spent the last seven years within the Dynamo organization and finally made his breakthrough in MLS NEXT Pro in 2023. The midfielder managed to play over 1,000 minutes for Kenny Bundy’s team and looked very impressive late in the season. At the age of 16, it is very doubtful that he will see any minutes for the first team any time soon but will likely be a key figure in the Dynamo Dos midfield. With the number of talented midfielders and leaders the Dynamo have in the organization currently, there should be a path for a player like Sebastian to succeed long term.

(image via Houston Dynamo FC)

Overall, these are two phenomenal signings for the Dynamo’s long-term future. It is wonderful to see general manager Pat Onstad and the front office look towards the young players when building out the roster for the coming years. Implementing these young players into the first team has been a struggle for the Dynamo over their entire history. Hopefully with a more established team this year, there will be a little less pressure on the organization and allow Ben Olsen to experiment with some of these younger talents throughout the year.