2017 MLS SuperDraft Full Analysis: Chicago Fire

Pick: #69

Name: Matej Dekovic

Position: Defender

School: University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Back to Charlotte again for their final pick, and finally that was a defender.

Matej Dekovic went with the #7 pick of the fourth round and #69 overall.

The Croatian had a strong finish to his college career – his final year saw him pick up multiple accolades including NSCAA First Team All-Southeast Region, First Team All-Conference USA and NCCSIA First Team All-State; this rounding out a college career of 57 games over the course of three seasons.

After finishing with the leagues worst record in 2016, the Fire are crying out for a solid back line, which puts Dekovic in with a shot, but he also faces the same – albeit more difficult – uphill battle as Guillermo Delgado does with his status as an international player. He will really need to perform in pre-season to make the cut.

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On reflection…

The intention of any draft is to build competition for every spot on the roster (last year’s first round picks became starters for the Fire – #4 pick, defender Brandon Vincent, and #12 Jonathan Campbell – playing a combined 59 MLS matches).

And after a terrible season they needed quality added to every position. So while they surprisingly only came away drafting one defender, they did take five players each capable of pushing for a roster spot, some a starting spot. But really the big talking point was choosing to trade high with NYCFC for additional funding and what that may lead to…

So, what’s next?

The Fire haven’t wasted time in spending the cash they acquired from their trade, and made the move to shore up their roster by signing of New York Red Bull’s captain, Dax McCarty (costing them $400,000 in general allocation money – a net $150,000 after their draft day trade).

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To add to what has already been an active offseason from a player acquisition standpoint, Dax joins central midfielder Juninho on loan from Club Tijuana, forward Nemanja Nikolic from Legia Warsaw and goalkeeper Jorge Bava.

There are also reports linking the Fire with European heavyweight midfielders Bastian Schweinsteiger and Andres Guardado as taking their third DP slot.

After another last-place finish, the pressure was/ is on to make the right adjustments to turn them back into a playoff side. They were always going to need more than one season to do that, but now they head into their second season under Rodriguez and Paunović in good standing.

Let us know what you think of the Fire’s pickups in the 2017 draft in the comment section below. Which of these players has the best chance of making an impact in the upcoming season?