BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – Fire technical director Frank Klopas held court at the Toyota Park training field Wednesday morning, addressing a group of reporters about the Fire’s plans for the summer transfer window.
And, as is typical for these conversations, the talk eventually turned to former Fire forward Cuauhtémoc Blanco.
The 37-year-old Blanco, who played with the Fire from 2007 to 2009, announced on his TV show Tuesday night that he plans to play for another year-and-a-half and could sign with a club as soon as Friday.
Blanco, who featured for the Mexican national team in their run to the Round of 16 in this summer’s World Cup, also gave hints as to where he’ll end up, saying that he will either return to MLS or stay in Mexico to play for Club América, Tigres UANL or Veracruz.
When asked, Klopas said that the Fire would be open to Blanco returning to Chicago.
“All options are open,” Klopas said. “Every decision that we make is done to make our team better. … Everything is based on that decision alone on the field. We evaluate everything, we try to make the right decisions, sometimes they work sometimes they don’t.”
“He’s an experienced player,” Klopas added. “You definitely have to play different with him on the field, we all know that. So I mean he’s an experienced guy for sure, but you’ve got to have other pieces on the field as well also that complement him and his strengths.”
Klopas added that the team is exploring Designated Player options beyond Blanco.
"We're looking at different guys, but some guys aren't finishing [contracts] now,” he said. “Some guys are finishing in November or December, depending on the league that they're playing in. So we're looking at options there. It just depends if it's something for now. We're looking at guys we feel can help us but guys with situations that are finishing in November or December would be for next year."
