Another signing has landed. From Club release:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Feb. 22, 2021) – Nashville Soccer Club announced today the signing of homegrown defender Nick Hinds after acquiring his Homegrown Priority from Seattle Sounders FC in exchange for $50,000 in General Allocation Money. As part of the agreement, Seattle Sounders FC will retain a percentage of any future transfer fee for Hinds.
“Nick is a talented young player who has been a real standout at the youth, collegiate, and USL Championship levels,” said Nashville SC General Manager Mike Jacobs. “He brings outstanding experiences from US youth national teams and a successful youth academy in Seattle. His pace and ability to join into the attack makes him someone who could become a successful left-sided player at this level.”
The 23-year old continues the trend of young exuberant players acquired by Nashville SC as he adds width to the strong backline assembled by the club in 2020. With his signing, 14 members of the Nashville SC roster are 25 years of age or younger, continuing the pattern of Nashville acquiring and developing young, exciting talent as the club prepares for its second season in Major League Soccer.
Hinds joined the Sounders Academy as a high school senior and signed a professional contract with the club in January 2018 after expending two seasons in college. During his tenure with Seattle, Hinds made 68 total appearances for the club’s USL side Sounders 2 and Tacoma Defiance.
The largest leap for Hinds came in the 2018 campaign where he made 26 appearances for Tacoma leading to his Senior Team debut in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup match against Sacramento FC where Hinds registered 82 minutes.
Prior to signing his professional contract, Hinds played two seasons at the University of Akron. He appeared in 44 matches at the soccer powerhouse and recorded 11 goals and eight assists in route to leading the Zips to back-to-back Conference Championships and NCAA Tournament berths, including a trip to the College Cup in 2017.
Nashville SC release
That’s three Sounders Academy products (winger Handwalla Bwana and goalkeeper Tor Saunders) slated to be with the Boys in Gold this Summer – though Saunders won’t be joining until after the college season. Coincidentally, Saunders and Hinds were Akron teammates in 2016 and 2017.
$50,000 in GAM is a pittance in exchange for basically any player. The fact that Nashville must give up resources in order to open up spots 29 and 30 on the roster (which are available only to Homegrown players) makes it an even more reasonable spend. You can almost look at it like Nashville created a roster slot by spending that allocation money, and as a bonus got a player to be pretty excited about.
Per his Twitter profile, Hinds will wear No. 31 for Nashville SC. A left-footed left back, he is likely the heir apparent at that position.
Much more to come on Hinds going forward.
Club and Country 