Club has 13 openings (if you even count the brothers) and 4 international roster slots filled already. Let's get some DP's sure, but they'll fill up the availible international slots. We need a bunch of US players sooner rather than later.
Report out of Spain is claiming that @LAGalaxy will make a $10M offer for @CH14_ in the coming week. HUGE signing for them (and MLS) if it materializes. Huge. No bigger name in Mexican Futbol. #MLS #ElTriEng https://t.co/krZYEjPalP— herculez gomez (@herculezg) January 8, 2020
So if he decides to sign with LA, and Chicago has the discovery rights, Chicago would get $50k in allocation money if they release him? Sounds like no talking Chicharitos to signing with CF anytime soon.
O zagueiro brasileiro Marcelo deixou o Chicago Fire, dos EUA, e está livre no mercado, informa o jornal @ojogo.Ele tem 30 anos e construiu grande parte da carreira em Portugal, passando por clubes como Rio Ave e Sporting.Teria vaga no seu time? pic.twitter.com/sQg7pzzTj4— De Primeira (@blogdeprimeira_) January 12, 2020 In English, that's a report that Marcelo is gone. Not sure how given that he was on a 2-year deal, but there you go. If true, let's take a look at the top six earners on the Fire last season $5,600,000 - Bastian Schweinsteiger - GONE $2,200,000 - Nico Gaitan - GONE $1,900,000 - Nemanja Nikolic - GONE $1,400,000 - Aleksandar Katai - GONE $800,000 - Marcelo - GONE $700,000 - Dax McCarty - GONE That's $11.6 million in salary. Add Ousted and Richard Sanchez and it's over $12 million stripped from the roster. We're sitting at around half of the payroll of the lowest paid team in the league from last year.
Marcelo gone is a good thing. That's 800k in salary that can go somewhere else. On the other hand, people are upset about overpaying for Matic, if the tabloid rumors are true, but I can't really get mad about overpaying for a DP. JM can afford it, and the way DP rules are set up, it's not like you can convert a 6M player into three 2M players.
Correct. In theory, you just get the three best guys you can find, cost be damned. In practice, you kinda have to look at how the whole roster takes shape. Surely the Fire have plenty of money to throw around at this stage, but the budget isn't limitless. I think Matic would be a great signing, but there's no chance it happens in the immediate term with United having no cover in the midfield.
From Bolavip website: "Ake Loba (21 year old Ivorian striker) is very close to being a Monterey player. One of the most sought after strikers by the Rayado board was undoubtedly Ake Loba. The Ivorian has reached an agreement and will play with 'The Gang' henceforth. The attacker has already had the corresponding medical tests and there is a determining factor which may have accelerated his signing. This is the possible departure of Rodolfo Pizarro, who is intended by several MLS teams and will be sold for a large figure. It is imminent and will say goodbye to Monterey in the coming days. It will certainly be a very sensitive retirement (transfer) for Antonio Mohamed's team." Via Google Translate. Bold is mine. No idea how good Bolavip is as a source at all.
Just to be clear, I'm not blaming Heitz and company for our plight (plenty of time for that, lol). But, JFC, the football operations team should've been in place a month earlier (at least). Ugh.
I think Chicharito would bring in more fans today (gawkers really) , I think Pizarro would actually be more of a longterm win with actual Mexican soccer fans .
The thing that keeps me sane is peeking over at the social media of all the other teams and seeing their frustration with a lack of movement too. Of course the Fire are way in the basement in terms of bodies, but Minnesota only had one more player rostered than we did as of last week. The early start to the season this year combined with the CBA seemingly slowing down moves is going to slowly drive everyone insane. The last two weeks in February are going to be wild across the league.
I haven't seen any other MLS squads connected to him in my net wanderings. If Pizarro were to end up with another MLS team, after the number of outlets that have referenced him with the Fire, it would not be a good sign for the relaunch. We will see what the braintrust gets done.
Yeah, this. I've wanted Hernandez for the marketing for a long time, but if he's a warm weather guy, then it's water under the bridge, no big loss. The Pizarro rumors on the other hand had me legit excited for what he could actually do on the field and kinda upset when they seemed to be fizzling last week. Winning will draw more fans in the long run, and Pizarro would be the guy more likely to achieve that. Chicago is a sports bandwagon town (I mean this in a good way) and I'd actually chose him over CH14 to get this city on board and interested.
Indeed. But why didn't the Fire have their stuff together a bit earlier (~a month), so they'd be better prepared for the melee? A self-inflicted wound by some very smart guys (ostensibly). Will happily eat crow if they pull this off.
Fire linked to 21y/o defender from PNE who was on loan to Bolton . Appears to have initially been a striker and has been moved back , first as a winger then as a defender. He appears to be a tall guy about 6'4 , and has been playing LB. I'm thinking with that height we'll see him at CB if they do sign him. https://www.transfermarkt.us/josh-earl/profil/spieler/426281
https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2020-01-12/galaxy-close-to-signing-javier-chicharito-hernandez The Galaxy are closing in on a deal that would bring Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, Mexico’s all-time leading scorer, to MLS on a franchise-record transfer