As preseason begins, many fans, including myself, are skeptical about the upcoming season and whether or not we will be able to push for the playoffs. Jim Curtin has made some transfers thus far, bringing in Sporting Kansas City forward CJ Sapong, completing a Maurice Edu permanent transfer and resigning Union veterans Conor Casey, Fred and Brian Carroll. But will these signings and resigning be enough to get into the playoffs for the first time since 2011? What still needs to be done?

With a Valdes departure lurking the question must be asked as to who will land the starting CB positions? Ethan White played very well in the CB position last year and will likely be starting there this season, but who would he play along side? The immediate answer is Edu because he started most games at CB last season, but we all know Edu would rather play at a CDM position and have some forward play. There have been rumors floating around that the Union are looking to sign another CB, it is unlikely that this would be a player from an international league. A good target for the Union that could fit the role would be New England's Jose Goncalves. New England has undoubtedly played better since Goncalves arrived on the scene in 2013 and the Union need a big defender to replace Valdes. If we could land him, our back four would consist of Williams, White, Goncalves, and Gaddis, which sounds like as solid of a defense as you can hope for.

For the midfield and forwards, there are a lot of things we can do to make a playoff run. The difference maker? Sebastian Le Toux. Since coming back in 2013, Le Toux has been moved to a RM position in the Unions 4-2-3-1. The way I look at it, we have many options for Le Toux's position. If we do keep him at the RM position, the question must be asked, "Can we survive with another season of 1 or 2 goal games?" 31/34 of the regular season games we played in 2014 the Union had 2 or less goals, which cannot happen again as other teams have strengthened their offensive power for the upcoming season. I do believe that this season, MLS will have more goals than any other season and the Union somehow need to be adding to that tally. But if we look at the Union's starting XI from last year and compare it to the upcoming year, what will really change? Essentially, CJ Sapong is likely going to be playing where Casey played last year but will he be enough? Can CJ Sapong score 18 goals this year? The immediate answer is no, he is still young and has a lot of growing to do. CJ only started 7 games last season for Sporting K.C. and only tallied 2 goals on the season. With that in mind, we need to sign a proven goal scorer. Jim Curtin has said he does not want to spend millions of dollars on a single player, but rather would spend one or two million on a couple players. The reality is, we need to sign a DP forward to compete in a growing MLS. I've had the opinion for a while that Sunderland's Conor Wickham would be a good fit for the Union, he's scored important goals against EPL giants Manchester City and can find the back of the net when needed. Though a secondhand striker in the EPL, he would flourish in the MLS. He is obviously out of the Union's price range and Curtin would not pursue such an expensive player, but my point in this is that we do not need an Henry, we do not need a Jozy, we do not need a Dempsey, we just need someone who can compete against a changing MLS and a Connor Wickham caliber player would do the trick. Do I have a cheaper target in mind? No, not at the moment, but anyone who can score that fits our style of play would be excellent for us.

But, suppose we already have a top notch striker on the club? What if the obvious answer has been looking at us the entire time? When he came back the Union, ex coach John Hackworth put Sebastian Le Toux up top for just a few games before switching him to the RM position. I personally believe that, if given the chance, Le Toux could find his scoring form again and once again dominate MLS. If we gave him a chance, who could the Union bring in to fill the role of RM? We should target someone young but talented, not a Paul Pogba or Raheem Sterling caliber player, but someone close to Andrew Wenger's level. I think a good player would be FC Midtjylland's Pione Sisto. Sisto is only 20 and has shown great development in Superliga scoring 13 goals in his 2 year career. As of late, he started playing for Denmark's U-21 team and on his debut scored a hat-trick. This kid can play and would be a great addition to the Union assuming we push Le Toux back to forward. He has been pursued for top notch clubs but the most that has been offered for him thus far has been roughly 2.25 million dollars, which the Union could top if necessary.

In conclusion, there are a couple moves the Union still have to make before they can really contend for a playoff spot, but if even one of these transfers took place, the team would be much better for it. I don't know who Jim Curtin is planning on bringing in, but all we can do is hope and pray that he makes the right moves for the upcoming season. I have no reason to believe that any of this could happen, this is all speculation on my part. I do, however, think that these transfers could win us an MLS Cup.