Who is Robert Beric, and how would he fit with the Chicago Fire?

If Robert Beric hasn’t walked through Terminal 5 at O’Hare International Airport yet, he likely will very soon.

To be clear, Chicago Fire FC officials haven’t confirmed anything about Beric’s signing. But, several of his now former Saint-Etienne teammates said some very public goodbyes to their friend all over Instagram yesterday, and Beric was kind enough to compile a bunch of them on his Instagram story. In one of the videos, defender Leo Lacroix is openly talking about Beric going to Chicago.

There we are. Maybe the Slovenian striker is just coming here for a nice vacation, but I doubt it. It’s more likely he’s coming here to score goals.

So who are we getting? Here’s what we know:

• Beric’s scored buckets of goals in the past in Ligue 1, and before that in the Austrian Bundesliga. In 2014-15, he finished with the 11th most goals in Europe. But, this season, for whatever reason, Beric’s only found the back of the net once.
• Beric is 28, and turns 29 in June. So he should have quite a few good years left, if Raphael Wicky can get the most out of him.
• He’s remarkably well liked in the locker room. That was the word on Beric before yesterday’s outpouring of love from his former teammates. You have to figure that’s a great quality to have on a team where there will be a ton of new faces.
• He looks great on YouTube. Sure, these are highlight videos. I can whip up a highlight video that makes a bad player look really good. But, take a look. The guy looks like a serious number nine.

Most of us don’t watch a ton of Ligue 1 in the United States, so it’s fair to be a little unsure about what kind of player we’re really getting. But, Fire Sporting Director Georg Heitz might have found someone here.