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MLSSoccer.com is reporting that former Chicago Fire midfielder Marco Pappa has signed a deal with the league and that he will be going into the allocation process this week. Per the article:
As a result, Pappa will be assigned to a team through the allocation ranking (check out the latest ranking here), with the Seattle Sounders in pole position at the moment, and Toronto FC next in line if Seattle passes. Clubs have until Friday at 4 pm ET to select Pappa. If a club selects him, the team will drop to the bottom of the allocating ranking order.
Judging from the article, it sounds like the process starts immediately. I'm not sure if all teams have until 4:00 p.m. on Friday to make a decision on whether they want Pappa, and the league just goes through the decisions in order until some one takes him or what, but we will at least be able to put this story to bed before the weekend.
The Chicago Fire have moved up to 7th on the list since the Philadelphia Union took Maurice Edu earlier this week, but they are still probably too far down on the list to acquire Pappa. The Fire could attempt to make a trade to move op in the allocations order, but the coast of making a trade could likely outweigh the benefits of having Pappa on the roster.
