Fire Miss Out On Lee Nguyen

For better or worse, the Lee Nguyen Transfer Saga is finally over.

Ahead of the league transfer deadline, the New England Revolution signalled that they were finally ready to part with 31-year-old attacker Lee Nguyen. The Chicago Fire have spent much of 2018 in pursuit of Nguyen, who made it clear he wanted out at New England and who would’ve likely fit in well with Veljko Paunovic’s setup. Heading into Transfer Deadline Day, there was still some buzz that the Fire could make Robert Kraft see reason.

Perhaps that was too ambitious.

The Revs did end up trading Nguyen away... to LAFC.

In their press release, the Revs said they were parting with Nguyen in exchange for $700,000 in allocation money. That figure could rise to $950,000 in bonuses and add-ons. In addition, there is a possibility that New England could end up with LAFC’s natural first-round pick in the 2019 or 2020 MLS SuperDraft.

That seems like solid compensation for Nguyen. It’s unclear how that compared to what the Fire were offering, although details are certain to trickle out in the hours and days ahead.

For now, Fire fans are left ruing yet another transfer target that slipped through the club’s fingers. CF97 Fandom isn’t exactly known for its patience and understanding, and the mood at Toyota Park could sour very quickly unless a quality signing is announced in the near future. (Or failing that, results start going the Fire’s way more consistently.)