Chicago Fire: Roster overhaul finally getting there

This week, the Chicago Fire added their third new DP this offseason in Gaston Gimenez. The move completes a roster overhaul that looked on the brink.

Perhaps no team in Major League Soccer has conducted a bigger overhaul than the Chicago Fire this offseason. There are plenty of other teams that have sold key players, replaced their manager, restructured their management systems behind the scenes, unveiled new infrastructure and stadia, and designed new jerseys. But only one team has done all of these things, all off the back of entire club rebrand.

The 2020 Chicago Fire is a completely new entity. There is the obvious change in look, from the much-maligned badge to the subsequent jerseys, social media and commercial evolutions.

But then there is the change in ownership, which is the foundational switch motivating everything else. They will also return to Soldier Field, ending a 14-year hiatus. There is a new manager, a new general manager, a roster that has been entirely overhauled from the very start of the offseason until now. This is a new team.

As the winter rolled into the new year and the new season loomed, there was growing unrest in the Chicago Fire fanbase. While new owner Joe Mansueto was viewed as a major upgrade on the vastly unlikable Andrew Hauptman, the new badge was derided, the return to Soldier Field was viewed as a risk that could backfire given the size of the stadium, and there were still major holes on the pitch.

Raphael Wicky arrived as the new head coach, though his main experience had come in youth football, while the squad was still barren of any even remote talent. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Nicolas Gaitan and Aleksandar Katai, the three Designed Players from 2019, had all departed, while several key players across the roster were traded away or allowed to leave. Chicago was blowing it up and starting over.

Given the desperate nature of their recent results, only making the playoffs once under former head coach Veljko Paunovic, there was good reason for Manseuto to hit self-destruct and essentially start over. But while the ripping down of the old was done swiftly and substantially, the building up of the new was a little more difficult to complete.

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Nevertheless, this week, the Chicago Fire added their third DP. Gaston Gimenez arrives from Velez Sarsfield for an undisclosed transfer fee. The midfielder arrives as the cornerstone of this new Fire team. He has played all his career in Argentina, is a renowned holding midfielder with a lovely left foot. His contract extends through the 2021 season with a club option for 2022.

Whether Gimenez is a successful investment or not remains to be seen. Any venomous takes either way are a little foolish, at this stage. But what he does represent is the final piece in a jigsaw that has taken some building. Georg Heitz has been immensely busy throughout the offseason, and Gimenez wraps up the preparations for the new season.

The Fire have already added fellow DPs in forward Robert Beric and winger Ignacio Aliseda. They invested heavily in midfielders Alvaro Medran and Luka Stojanovic, and defender Miguel Angel, and have reworked the entire spine of their team. Wicky has some pieces to play with, even if it looked like he might be scraping the bottom of the barrel just a few weeks prior.

Are the Chicago Fire ready to challenge for a playoff spot? Can they fill Soldier Field? Will they be any good whatsoever? At this stage, no one really knows. But they have completed the overhaul, and for now, that is all that can be asked of them.