After weeks of negotiation, defender Jeff Parke has decided to test the soccer waters overseas.

"We have been in touch with Jeff Parke’s representatives,” general manager Adrian Hanauer said through a news release today. “We are aware that Jeff is planning a trip to Belgium and has tryouts with two clubs. We think Jeff is a tremendous player, and that’s why we were willing to risk selecting him in the expansion draft. We will continue to keep in close contact. We continue to hold his MLS right and we’re hopeful that he will some day play for Seattle Sounders FC."

Parke played last season with the New York Red Bulls. The Sounders selected him in the MLS expansion draft. However, because his contract had expired, all they actually secured were his MLS rights while he was free to negotiate elsewhere.

With Parke apparently out of the picture, the center back position is being contested among Patrick Ianni, recently acquired from Houston; Nathan Sturgis, formerly of Real Salt Lake, Tyson Wahl, fomerly of Kansas City, and Taylor Graham and Zach Scott, formerly of the USL Sounders.