There have been Claudio Bieler rumors for weeks now. There has also been very, very loud noise from Sporting KC already this offseason.
There's also the obvious fit: Sporting need someone who can and will put the ball in the net. For all of C.J. Sapong's improvement in his second year, he scored just nine times. Kei Kamara grabbed 11 goals, but could have had 25. And for the second year in a row, SKC went crashing out in the playoffs to a Houston team that was able to grab a couple of early goals, then batten down the hatches and count on the Sporting attack beating itself.
Bieler ain't that kind of cat. He's been good for about a goal every other game on every stop of his club career, which includes a 2008 Copa Libertadores crown with LDU Quito (Side note: They beat Jose Torres and Pachuca in the semifinals of the Club World Cup that year en route to a second-place finish. That was a good Quito team).
He's also been on the very fringes of the Argentine national team as recently as 2010, getting a camp under then-manager Diego Maradona (but no cap).
When you have a finisher with that kind of pedigree available, who's just 28 years old, you say "yes." According to Goal.com, that's exactly what's happening on Monday.
Now, it remains to be seen how it'll quite fit, since Bieler has usually played off a target striker instead of as a winger in a 4-3-3. A formational pivot could be in the works, or Peter Vermes could have some other trick up his sleeve.
Either way, though, it certainly looks like Sporting KC are very, very serious about getting better this offseason.
