St. Louis CITY SC sporting director Corey Wray wasn’t shy about the scope of work ahead of him when he took over the role last November. Wray laid out his priorities, built out his support staff, hired a manager who aligns with the club’s vision, and realigned a scouting and analytics department to support CITY’s more data-driven approach.
Creating that environment was the most important task of Wray’s early tenure. It was a vision that convinced Yoann Damet to leave the Columbus Crew for St. Louis, and the first-year manager quickly proved that the early roster turnover could deliver playoff-level soccer.
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That process has become important in Wray’s summer sales pitch. Throughout the summer transfer window, St. Louis has been chasing multiple targets for CITY’s designated player spot—St. Louis’ roster model affords the club three DP spots, premium roster spots that allow clubs to spend outside of the Major League Soccer salary cap.
Recently, the team landed Carlo Holse, the 27-year-old Danish attacking midfielder, from Turkish club Samsunspor for a club-record fee of approximately $6 million. Holse’s recent comments offered a window into the front office’s bid to sell him on spending the prime of his career in St. Louis. The effort—involving a full-court press from Wray, assistant sporting director Ally Mackay, and Damet—is sometimes forgotten in transfer discussions. Not only does Wray have to negotiate with a club that might not want to lose a player, but he also has to convince ownership that a player is worth the transfer fee and convince the player and his family that the club will be the right fit.
“Ally [Mackay] went to Copenhagen to speak to my wife about everything about the city, the fans, the stadium—everything,” Holse said. Convincing a player to move across the world to ply their trade in the league isn’t always an easy sell.
That’s where Damet’s early success is valuable. CITY’s overall improvement is apparent, but Damet can also point to his use of a player like Marcel Hartel as evidence of how he can take Holse’s game to another level inside the system. As St. Louis looks to compete this season, Damet will need Holse to understand his role as the driver of the attack, much as Hartel has done so far.
“You’re trying to do your best to create an environment for the players to grow, develop, and express themselves,” Damet said, reflecting on his role in the process. “I spoke about three things when I arrived: Contagious energy we want to give the players every single day. Focus on the human being, creating a real human-centered environment. And understanding the why and having a clear process. That’s what I’m telling those guys when they come here. We try to deliver on the highest level every single day.”
Another aspect of selling a player on a move is whether they have a role to play. To Holse, the answer was an unequivocal yes. “I was pretty sold after that first talk with Yoann,” Holse said. “Crazy tactics—he sounded like a magician, but he really sold me on that one.”
Holse hasn’t been the only addition through the first month of the window; CITY also added former Columbus Crew midfielder Alexandru Mațăn, an addition that was a much easier sell, given the midfielder’s past relationship with Wray and Damet in Columbus.
“When Corey [Wray] wanted to reach out to me and my agent, I just said, ‘Yeah, definitely. This is where I want to move,’” Mațăn said after his debut this past weekend against Real Salt Lake.
The Romanian arrived in St. Louis as a free agent following a stint with Greek side Panetolikos F.C. The recruitment of Mațăn was more evidence of Wray’s previous work carrying over to his new role in St. Louis, helped by a close relationship with Damet. “I spoke with Yoann before I came here,” Mațăn said. “I met a nice group of players, and it just felt like home. I have been here for maybe two weeks, and I just feel at home.”
Wray’s work overhauling the roster is far from done. St. Louis was in hot pursuit of MLS Golden Boot contender Hugo Cuypers before the Chicago Fire transferred him to C.F. Monterrey of Liga MX. The Cuypers bidding war occurred just before the club finalized the deal to bring Holse to St. Louis.
At the same time, the writer Florian Plettenberg reports that there is a possibility that Hartel could return to Germany. If so, the team could be looking for another elite striker.
In general, Wray hasn’t ruled anything out: “If the right opportunity comes, we’re certainly not going to be done.”
