The Chicago Fire may have passed on Alejandro Bedoya, but the club didn’t exactly stand pat on the final day of MLS’s secondary transfer window.
In addition to receiving a variety of assets from Philadelphia in exchange for the No. 1 spot in the allocation ranking, Chicago added a pair of forwards on Wednesday. The club signed Armenian forward David Arshakyan and traded general allocation money to the Colorado Rapids in exchange for striker Luis Solignac.
Fire GM Nelson Rodriguez said in a conference call with reporters on Thursday that by acquiring Arshakyan and Solignac, Chicago accomplished their two primary objectives heading into the transfer window: Finding a target forward to play ahead of forward Michael de Leeuw and increasing their overall attacking depth.
Chicago have struggled in the attack this year, scoring a league-low 19 goals. Prior to Wednesday, they didn’t have a true target forward on the roster, forcing head coach Veljko Paunovic to play de Leeuw – who the club consider more of a second forward – as the lone striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Acquiring Arshakyan and Solignac, both of whom are capable of leading the line, should allow de Leeuw to drop back into a more natural second forward position or even into an attacking midfield spot in a 4-2-3-1.
Arshaykyan is a lesser known commodity in MLS than Solignac, who had three goals in 33 regular season appearances since joining the Rapids last May. The 21-year-old Armenian joins Chicago after one season with Lithuanian club FK Trakai, where he scored 25 goals in 34 league appearances. The 6-foot-4 striker will join the Fire, who signed him to a two-year deal with club options for third and fourth years, after he receives his work visa.
“For David Arshakyan, what we really like about this individual in every game, every performance that we observed, he was always influential,” Rodriguez said. “He forces the defense to concentrate on him or he punishes them for not doing so. While he’s not dominant in the air, he’s very capable in the air. And he is not a plodding ‘90s style target forward.
"This a guy with good feet, good imagination, creative on the ball, creative off the ball, good vision and a high work rate and we’re excited to have him. We hope the visa process goes quickly so that we can add him as soon as possible.”
Solignac, who can play as a lone striker or as a wide attacker, fills a similar role for Chicago.
“With Luis Solignac, again we find that we’ve acquired a player that we think will fit better with Michael, that his game will lend itself well,” Rodriguez said. “He could also play as that target forward, he’s comfortable in that role, he’s comfortable in that role underneath. I think he could slide out wide and snake inside a bit, so his versatility is a plus.”
Perhaps more important than either acquisition is the fact that Chicago acquired a good deal of allocation money this window, both in the Bedoya deal and in the trade that sent forward Kennedy Igboananike to D.C. United last week. Rodriguez said he plans on using that general and targeted allocation money on a bigger-name signing ahead of the 2017 season.
“I’ve said this in the past, but allocation money is the tool to make all things happen in the league,” Rodriguez said. “Whether that’s acquiring new players, managing the budget, and now through our TAM resources and our general allocation resources, we’re in a position, should we choose to do so or should we find the right player, to make another high-quality impact acquisition for next year.”
