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Sherjill MacDonald joining the Chicago Fire: His Own Words

We first put something up about Sherjill MacDonald on June 26th and it's slowly coming together. Fox Soccer already has MacDonald listed on their transfer list for the summer. Multiple reports have come out of the Netherlands confirming MacDonald's exit. This morning, Sherjill MacDonald tweeted in his own words in addition to sharing words of congratulations for well-wishers.

On being quoted as having rather stayed at Beerschot and joining Chicago...

On when he arrives in town...

There are a couple of things to take into consideration here. First, there's the visa hang-up. Fire fans had to wait almost a month for Rafael Robayo's visa to clear this pre-season. Every visa situation is different. We don't know how long it will take for MacDonald's visa to clear.

Second, the Chicago Fire are working frantically to acquire another international slot. They could outright release one of the 8 international slotted players currently on the team. They could acquire an additional international slot through a trade with a MLS team and set a Chicago Fire historical precedent. Or they could sell one of their players like Marco Pappa, Sebastian Grazzini, or Rafael Robayo. If I had to guess, I would say selling Grazzini is the most likely scenario.

Grazzini's situation appears to be that he wants to be paid more than what he is getting paid right now. The Argentine's salary is much more than the reported $50,000 so you'll find little sympathy from me on the issue. He's not a DP but it seems he wants to be paid like one. You signed the contract, now it's time to live up to the terms. If Grazzini doesn't want to be here, time to ship him out and bring in someone who does. Cue Sherjill MacDonald.

What to expect from MacDonald

Anytime an international player joins the Chicago Fire, you don't know what they are going to bring to the table. Consider this though. The Fire brought Chris Rolfe in from Denmark's top football league. MacDonald is coming from the higher ranked Belgian Pro League. MacDonald finished second on his team in goals and assists with 7 each this year. That's a better rate in both categories than Chris Rolfe. Now, MacDonald will have to adjust to Major League Soccer and Rolfe did not. MacDonald won't be familiar with any of his teammates unlike Rolfe. However, there's no reason to believe MacDonald can't come in and be an impact player for the 2012 Chicago Fire.

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