I became a lifelong Club América fan after attending the Leagues Cup game in Bridgeview against them, but have only bothered to watch like five games since then. Even if he signs with another club, it is a good excuse to tune in Saturday nights. I’m excited for him.
Questioning the validity of this, for sure,but a Mexican source with varied reviews for accuracy is claiming Chivas “ close” to deal for Gutierrez. The claim is that Brian has specified them as his destination of choice and he has already agreed on details of a four year contract. Fire reputed to be asking for $5-6 million per source and Chivas ratcheting its offer upward but agreement with Fire not yet reached. A different source said two clubs submitted “offers” in $3 to $3.5 million range. Purely speculative but interesting to consider. Bidding war may be heating up.
FWIW, transfermarket has Guti listed him back in May as 5mil market value....and we have him under contract through 2028...so...anything less than 6 is not a good deal for us. Add to that we are likely 'at max' for converting sale fees to GAM. Add to that Chivas has only paid 6+ for a couple of players in recent history...so they have to reach. Healthy off season chatter for CFFC, all the HomeGrowns & Guti
Are you confusing me with somebody else? Not promoting his sale, just providing “information” for discussion purposes.
Just providing ‘discussion’ in response… I didn’t know ‘if signed at market value’ he would be a top 10 club signing…
Honestly don’t think there’s a cut and dry “anything less than” number that makes selling him a bad deal. It seemed pretty clear toward the end of the season that he wasn’t in GGG’s plans, short or long term. GGG tried to change the way he played to fit the system, and while he turned into a goal scoring threat, he wasn’t as consistent as a distributor and didn’t appear to satisfy the defensive responsibilities GGG put on him. I don’t know that it was the best use of his talents, but a coach has to win games and there wasn’t anyone else that could’ve fit into the role GGG assigned him in his system. We also know that Europe isn’t calling, at least with any offers that can match what we’d get for him in Mexico, and as a fan of his I wouldn’t want him in Europe anyway- Mexico seems the best bet for him to get playing time against top competition in a role that suits his skill set, rather than practice time for a second division euro club with minutes if he can adapt his game to their system. For an attacking player like him, any of the teams in Mexico should be a good fit, and I wouldn’t doubt if his transfer value dropped some in light of him getting fewer starts/minutes in our last few games this season. Its not like the money really matters anyway - like, is the club going bankrupt if we get $2m instead of $6m? What ever happened to the Durán money? It’s not like Joe needs it, and even if there’s some stupidass MLS rule governing what we can do with the money (there probably is) I just don’t think it’s in our best interest or Guti’s for him to stick around past the offseason, and the money isn’t going to change that. Is coming on in the 60th minute for the first half of next season while trying to fit into a system that doesn’t optimize his talents in a role he probably isn’t suited for going to get us a million dollars more next summer? Let’s play the interested clubs against each other and get what we can, but get it done so he can start 2026 with a new club.
I think the change will be good for him because we’ve been so mediocre. He can get a cold splash of water in his face and hopefully blossom.
In what way? I mean, seriously - Joe (and any MLS owner) could buy 11 Cuyperses (autocorrect seems to think that is not the plural of Cuypers but I am defiant!) every offseason if the rules allowed it - do transfer fees buy down salaries? Or add to Garber bucks/allocation money? I get that in theory any money we get goes toward expenses, including player salaries, but in reality it feels kind of meaningless - like complaining that a DP makes too much money even though their salary counts the same whether they make $10 million or $10 billion. It’s just funny money at a certain point.
I agree. Hence, my use of "indirectly." It is not a one for one exchange at all. We made a boat load of money from selling Duran to Aston Villa and even more money when they sold him. We have made out lays of money since Duran was sold. While it is not the "same" money, we have effectively "spent" the amount of money we received for Duran on a bunch of other players since selling Duran, and then some.
BREAKING: Chivas is finalizing a deal to sign Brian Gutierrez from the Chicago Fire. @CLMerlo 1st.Deal is worth $5m fee.https://t.co/lvDfQHoBlk— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) December 5, 2025
In view of the numerous typically accurate sources postings, Guti looks to be gone for $ 5 million. Fee probably about right, especially if a sell-on was included. Could be a formal announcement on Monday or Tuesday. Good to get this item done with Free Agency, Re-Entry, Super Draft, EtAl starting Wednesday. Plenty tasks to keep GGG and crew busy.
I think I've told you guys this story before, but back in the day, when we moved to the USA from Greece, we did not have access to Greek soccer, and my father, who was himself a soccer nut and a lifelong Olympiakos fan, decided we would watch Chivas de Guadalajara games on the spanish language channels, because in the low resolution of 1980s broadcast TV, the red and white vertical stripes reminded him of his team's jerseys. So we watched about 10 years of Mexican ball because that's all we had. Those were good years for Chivas so we developed a bit of fandom for them, and I still have 2 jerseys in my closet to this day. Pete (might have to check out the team again in the future to see how Gutierrez is doing)
So, I suppose it's a little early in Brian's career for the testamonial, where he plays a half for each side?
You know he will be coming back to end his career at the new CF97 stadium and hoist the MLS trophy so let's wait until he returns from wandering through the dark woods of professional footballdom. Sad to see him go but happy for him as well and augmented by my 19 years (and three stints) living in Berwyn so I will always be rooting for Guti wherever he goes.
It will be interesting if he lives up to some of his potential now. Good luck to (still) Young Brian G.
Was nice to see an honest, heartfelt statement from the kid on his way out. A true success story for the league, the team, the academy, and the city. I hope we hear and see more good things about him, and that he finds his way to an even bigger stage than Guadalajara in the future.
He was my daughter’s favorite and I enjoyed watching his development. Bummed we didn’t get 1 more season, but we are happy for him The privilege was all ours, Guti 🫡 #cf97 pic.twitter.com/9rCbN9JrDL— Chicago Fire FC (@ChicagoFire) December 14, 2025