The New York Red Bulls are expected to name Juan Carlos Osorio as their 11th coach as early as this week, after he resigned as head coach of the Chicago Fire on Monday.
The Fire said Osorio has left the team for "family and personal reasons," and the club said he is expected to join the Red Bulls.
"Despite the Fire's best efforts to keep Juan in Chicago, he determined that he needed to leave Chicago for family and personal reasons," Fire president John Guppy said in a statement. "While we certainly respect his decision, the timing of the departure was unexpected and is unfortunate. All of our attention is now focused on finding the right coach for our team."
Osorio is known as a no-nonsense coach who takes little or no bull from players, but he does take many notes during games that he passes on to his players. He will succeed Bruce Arena after the Red Bulls and the former U.S. national team coach parted ways Nov. 5.
Osorio and the Red Bulls are putting the final touches on a deal, expected to be a multi-year contract, sources said.
Red Bulls spokesman Andy McGowan said, "We have been granted permission to talk to Chicago about our coaching vacancy."
The Fire said they would receive any compensation from the Red Bulls in the form of draft picks, salary cap allocation money and cash. The compensation for the 46-year-old Osorio could come in the form of a pick in the MLS SuperDraft or a player, similar to what the MetroStars did when they took Bob Bradley from the Fire in 2002. The Metros sent Rodrigo Faria to the Fire.
The Red Bulls have been talking with Osorio and the Fire since the last week of November, when negotiations became serious, league-wide sources said.
Osorio, an assistant coach with the Metros from 2000-2001, took over for Dave Sarachan midway through last season. He guided the Fire to an upset win against D.C. United in the Eastern Conference semifinals before losing 1-0 to the New England Revolution in the conference final.
The Red Bulls had been denied talking to Osorio in the beginning, but managing director Marc de Grandpre was persistent and managed to start negotiations.
Arena, meanwhile, is seeking employment overseas. According to published reports, Arena wants to succeed Alex McLeish as Scottish national coach.
"I am looking to move into British football and I would be very interested in the Scotland vacancy," Arena said to the Scottish Daily Mail. "I will be speaking to my agents this week about getting in touch with the Scottish FA. I believe an American could be a success on the other side of the Atlantic."
Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News and is editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He can be reached at SoccerWriter516@aol.com. Views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
