Bakary Soumare Returning to Chicago (Updated)

According to Guillermo Rivera at Fire Confidential, Ives Galarcep over at Soccer By Ives and a number of other sources around the internet, Bakary Soumare is on his way back to Chicago. Most sources state that the final details are currently being ironed out, but that the deal is essentially done.

At the moment, there are very few details. We will have more details when the trade is announced.

Bakary Soumare was defensive force to be reckoned with during his time with the Fire. At 27 years of age, Bakary is still a strapping young lad and could potentially return to the Form he was in circa 2008/2009, but he did suffer a knee injury that took quite a while to recover from. He seems to be back to health, but an injury like this could still resurface and then the Fire would be back in the same spot that they are in now.

The Fire back line definitely needs reinforcement. Most fans would probably prefer to see Jalil Anibaba back to the right back position and Wells Thompson on the bench, and the Fire acquiring Soumare would make this a possibility. I do not want to see the Fire give up too much for Soumare who has not fully proven that he is completely healthy. We wouldn't want to have another Arne Friedrich situation on our hands.

Speaking of Arne, the fact that the Fire do trade for Soumare might mean that Arne will possibly not be returning. Guillermo Rivera and Jeff Krause reported on the Fire Confidential Podcast that the Fire where having difficult making the trade for Soumare happen due to not having enough room under the cap. If the Fire are cap strapped, but they are still getting this deal done, then I assuming that its because team is not counting on Arne making a return any time soon.

Also, if the Fire are cap strapped, then I would also assume that the Fire might be giving up a player. Or maybe they could get this deal done because Sherjill MacDonald will be coming off the books in about a month.

If any one disagrees with my assumptions, please leave a comment. I'd like to get some other points of views on this.

To top it all off, there are still rumblings of a Mike Magee for Robbie Rogers trade.

Hang on Fire fans. Bakary's return could be the first of many big changes coming.

UPDATE: Soumare to Fore official

The club has officially announced that former player Bakary Soumare is indeed returning to Chicago. The Fire are sending their 2nd round pick in the 2014 MLS Superdraft, as well as allocation money to the Union for Soumare.