BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – Grant Ward has not ruled out a second spell with the Chicago Fire next year, as the promising winger returns to parent club Tottenham Hotspur after a productive loan at Toyota Park.
Ward, 19, started 12 of his 23 regular-season outings after arriving from White Hart Lane in May, and despite understandable struggles with consistency in his debut professional season, he finished the campaign strongly and left on a positive note, giving Frank Yallop something to think about as the head coach rebuilds for next season.
This offseason is expected to be one of significant change as Yallop and his coaching staff assess a roster that drove the Fire (6-10-18, 36 pts) to their worst finish since joining MLS 17 years ago. The upcoming Expansion Draft complicates the process further, but how the Fire recruit before the start of next season will have a big say in whether Ward will return to MLS.
For his part, Ward relished the challenge presented by moving to a new country, a new city and a new club and revealed he would be interested in a return in 2015.
“The club has been speaking to me and my agent, they want to try and get me back next season so we’ll just have to see what Tottenham want me to do,” Ward told MLSsoccer.com at the club’s final open media session of 2014. "I’d come back out."
Ward, who finished with one goal and two assists and 1,051 minutes, expects to take a couple of weeks off before returning to Tottenham. There, he will resume training, although he will not be available to play for the club until January.
“Personally, it was a good experience for me, especially as it was my first professional season,” Ward, who was the youngest player on the Fire roster, added. “It was great experience for me to play first team games, I played quite a lot, had some good games, had some bad games, but it’s all experience.
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“This was also an experience for me to come more out of myself, to become more independent. I’ve come to a new country, I’m [living] by myself, so all them factors helped in my development.”
Ward went out on a high, outpacing his marker before sending in a tantalizing cross for Florent Sinama-Pongolle to head home an emotional, injury-time winner against the Houston Dynamo in Logan Pause’s final career appearance for the Fire on Oct 24.
“It was good to end strong because everyone remembers your last game, and with it being Logan’s last game, it was great to get a win for him,” Ward added.
Meanwhile, free agent midfielder Jamie O’Hara, who had been on trial at the club in October and is a potential target for next season, has been signed to a short-term contract by English Championship side Blackpool FC until Jan. 4.
