Sounders add midfielder ahead of Champions League

TUKWILA, Wash. – The Seattle Sounders must wait for the availability of their newest player and several others, but their increasingly busy schedule won’t.

Sounders FC on Tuesday announced the signing of 31-year-old Austrian midfielder Andreas Ivanschitz. However, he isn’t expected to arrive in the United States until late in the week, and it will take him a while even after that to become game ready.

That means he won’t be available today when the Sounders begin CONCACAF Champions League group play at Vancouver.

“He hasn’t played a match … I think in six to eight weeks,” general manager Garth Lagerwey said. “So I think it’s unreasonable to think he’ll play right away.”

Ivanschitz spent his 15 professional seasons in the top leagues of Europe, including the last six in Spain’s La Liga and Germany’s Bundesliga. He also has 69 appearances with the Austrian national team. He has 62 goals over 380 professional appearances, and has a reputation as s set-piece specialist.

Terms of the deal were not announced, but he was not signed as a designated player.