Yoann Damet: From Structure Comes Freedom. | A CITY SC preseason notebook

Corey Wray laid out his objectives during his introductory press conference last November. 

There weren’t any pretenses around a teardown rebuild ahead of 2026 nor promises of big-name signings. Instead, Wray preached a wait and see approach while he worked to hire Yoann Damet and started to rebuild the club’s sporting apparatus with more of a focus on scouting and analytics.

The hope: a more streamlined vision could improve the organization's recruitment efforts while kick-starting an academy pipeline that has yet to see a player break 1000 MLS minutes despite a wealth of young talent.

It’s still early doors for Wray’s agenda, but St. Louis has started to finally grease the wheels after reaching Saturday as one of just two clubs yet to announce an incoming signing. 

Goalkeeper Cristian Olivares was loaned to expansion USL Championship side Sporting Club Jacksonville for the 2026 season with the option to recall the keeper if necessary. The move frees up a supplemental roster spot in conjunction with Colin Welsh re-signing with CITY 2 as a potential 3rd keeper that can fill in on the matchday as cover, barring injuries. Welsh will be the first choice for the returning David Critchley as the club announced his return, along with the addition of first team assistant Elvir Kafedžić to the CITY 2 staff.

Welsh has been joined by Academy goalkeeper Lucas McPartlin, who recorded a clean sheet against Sporting Kansas City 2 in his lone CITY2 start last season. 

"They were very quiet, looking around, learning, and that's how it should be." Roman Bürki said of the additions to the GK group, "But we are a team that welcomes everybody, and they also had the pleasure of going through the tunnel this morning. So with that, integration is complete."

McPartlin isn’t the only Academy player training with the first team, as both forward Evan Carlock – made his CITY2 debut on the final day of the regular season – and midfielder Alex Jundt – made a short appearance against Whitecaps 2 in August – have been pulled up for the start of camp. 

Other non-roster invites include forward Palmer Ault – an Indiana graduate who racked up 22 goal contributions in 14 matches last season – and 30-year-old Canadian CB Lukas MacNaughton – appeared in 11 matches for DC United last season after stints in Toronto and Nashville, a potentially starter quality CB who has struggled with injuries over the past few seasons.

Following those invites, Daniel Edelman arrived Tuesday from RBNY for $500k GAM in 2026, $200k GAM in 2027, a percentage of any future sales outside of MLS and an additional $150k in performance bonuses.

Edelman isn’t the biggest swing St. Louis can take this offseason, but he is a capable young player who should have room to grow in a new environment. Edelman grants St. Louis some of what they’ve been looking for out of Chris Durkin over the past two seasons, a more positionally responsible CDM who wants to disrupt play, while improving St. Louis’s ability to progress the ball. 

Last season, CITY SC struggled without Edu Löwen in the lineup. Löwen led the club with 8.90 progressive passes per 90, leading Marcel Hartel’s 5.63 and Durkin’s 5.45 – Edelman averaged 6.43 progressive passes per ninety minutes last season. 

Finally, Conrad Wallem appears to be returning to St. Louis following a long winter of negotiations with Slavia Praha – Wallem’s original loan to buy agreement featured an option that was thought to be above the Designated Player threshold. 

Reports out of Czechia indicate that Wallem is returning to St. Louis for a deal worth up to 2 million euros, which is a fee that should easily fall under the Max TAM designation with a multi-year deal. 

As long as Wallem is under the DP threshold, this is a good addition, assuming Wray continues strengthening along the backline. Wallem led CITY SC in tackles last season and only trailed Marcel Hartel and Edu Löwen in progressive actions and chances created. That Wallem can play both wingback and centrally in the midfield also grants Damet some flexibility in how he utilizes Wallem in his preferred formation. 

Damet wasn’t quite ready to spell out his positional preference in his talk with the media this week, but it was clear that Marcel Hartel will play a crucial. 

“I had a good conversation a couple of weeks ago with him,” Hartel said. “It was a nice conversation, we met for coffee, and he showed me his plan, how he wants to play with us, how he wants to win with us, his style with and without the ball, and I have to say, it is a very good structure. He’s looking at a lot of the little details of the game. [...] It’s completely my game.”

“I think we will have a lot of flexibility.” Damet followed. “Of course, you need to start with a structure; from structure comes freedom. We’ll have a structure to start preseason, but again, nothing is set in stone; it’s also depending on the profile of the players, what we’re gonna see.”

The roster isn’t finished.

Corey Wray has some questions along the backline that he must answer, whether that’s finding an agreement with Henry Kessler or going in a different direction. However, it’s clear from the early days of preseason that the players have bought what Damet is selling. 

The environment around Tuesday’s beep test felt optimistic – a session where first-round draft pick Zack Lillington stood out while Chris Durkin and Daniel Edelman were the last ones standing. That's not an indication of future success, but the vibes were encouraging, especially as that midfield battle will be a crucial one.

CITY SC will finish out the week in St. Louis before heading to IMG on the 19th. They’ll play friendlies against RBNY on the 24th and the Tampa Bay Rowdies on the 28th before returning to St. Louis ahead of the Coachella Valley Invitational next month. 

Josh Sargent to MLS?

This is a weird one.

Sargent is hoping to return to MLS to be closer to family, but that could mean a move to Toronto over St. Louis. As of now, TFC has the leg up in any negotiations with the striker, but – despite the confidence of Toronto and MLS insiders – Norwich has stayed firm in their position that they will not sell Sargent during their current relegation battle.

These things are fluid; the winds could change tomorrow, but for now, CITY SC will retain the right of first refusal that they obtained when MLS abandoned the Allocation mechanism.

We can argue whether filling a third DP spot with a streaky Championship striker who has regressed in both his goal-scoring numbers and expected goal-scoring numbers over the past two seasons would be wise. However, Sargent's return to North America would sting for City SC fans, who would see a player who had advocated for MLS in St. Louis return to the Gateway City in a darker shade of Red.