Chicago Fire head coach and technical director Frank Klopas recently traveled to Europe for his annual scouting trip. Earlier this week, the Fire posted a little story and a video of Klopas wrapping up his trip by visiting Atletico Madrid. Things have been fairly quiet on any European players that might but coming over to play for Chicago but the Greek press has the first morsel of information just before the European transfer window opens.
SentraGoal.com has this article on Greek club PAOK's Dimitris Salpigidis receiving interest from the Fire. Several other European teams are reported to be in the mix too but Klopas' Greek connections helped Chicago land Nery Castillo from Shakhtar Donetsk. Salpigidis likely wouldn't be as expensive as Castillo but he also has a lower ceiling. He would be five years older than when Castillo played here. After the miserable failure of the Nery experiment, I imagine fans are fine with taking some stability over a player that can be described as 'mercurial'.
Salpigidis has experience playing as a striker and on the wing in the midfield. That fits well into either taking Marco Pappa's spot in the 4-3-1-2 should FC Twente actually come through with their rumored purchase, challenging/backing up Patrick Nyarko and Dominic Oduro up top, or even getting some time in Sebastian Grazzini's role. Nyarko and Grazzini faced injuries last year, Oduro was forced to play a lot of minutes, and if Pappa is around he will be out for occasional international duty. Chicago needs at least one player that can come in for one of those four without the Fire losing too much offensive punch.
Salpigidis would get a designated player deal or at least close to it. That's what happens when you are a regular on Greece's international team. That status hurts his value this year because he will be out for all of June thanks to Euro 2012.
Given Klopas' Greek connections, rumored troubles for PAOK's finances, Salpigidis fitting in with team needs, and a couple of reports, I'd file this under a solid maybe. We'll keep you posted if we hear anything else.