Chicago Fire stands pat going into draft
The Chicago Fire's active off-season has ground to a halt, at least until Friday's MLS SuperDraft.
General manager Nelson Rodriguez said Wednesday it's unlikely the Fire will make any more roster moves ahead of the draft (2 p.m., streamed on mlssoccer.com). The Fire holds the Nos. 3 and 11 picks in the first round but do not have a second-round choice.
Negotiations to sign a standout international central midfielder - Bastian Schweinsteiger, Andres Guardado and a third, unnamed player - have not progressed and have gone on longer than expected.
"We continue to have dialogue, we continue to exchange ideas, proposals, if you will, back and forth, but I wouldn't say that anything is imminent," Rodriguez said on a conference call from Los Angeles, which is hosting the draft combine and the draft.
There probably won't be any homegrown player signings this off-season for coach Veljko Paunovic, who barely played the homegrown players he had last year.
Highly regarded prospects such as midfielder Cameron Lindley (Indianapolis) and central defender Mauricio Pineda (Bolingbrook) decided to return to the University of North Carolina; central defender Grant Lillard (Hinsdale) and forward Andrew Gutman (Hinsdale) preferred to stay at Indiana University.
The Fire did not offer any of them a homegrown contract, preferring they get more seasoning before turning pro.
"What makes someone a professional is their mentality and the fact that they understand what it means to be an athlete and to compete and perform on a daily basis. I think each individual player arrives at that decision at a different time," Rodriguez said. "We don't believe in pressuring 18-, 19-year-olds, 20-year-olds into making that decision."
While the Fire likely will start the preseason on Jan. 23 with more players than it did last year, the roster won't be complete and might not be for the start of the season.
The Fire got the off-season off to a fast start in December when it signed forward Nemanja Nikolic from Legia Warsaw and added midfielder Juninho on loan from Club Tijuana in Mexico.
In lesser moves, the club re-signed forward Luis Solignac and signed 35-year-old Uruguayan goalkeeper Jorge Bava last week, leaving the roster at 20 players and with all eight allotted international slots in use.
Still there is a lot of work ahead for Rodriguez.
"In terms of where else we'd like to see improvement in the roster, it's all over the field," he said. "We need to create a highly competitive environment where players have to understand that there is going to be people who want the spot on the 11 on a daily basis."