Chicago fire brigade coach Gregg Berhalter was open to the idea of welcome Kevin De Bruyne in his ranks, while rumors continued to intensify a move to the MLS.
At the end of the season, De Bruyne will drop the curtain on a great career at Manchester City, after they helped the burgers to win 16 major awards.
The Belgian has scored 108 goals and provides 177 assists in all competitions for the city and will leave the top flight with the second highest assistant count (119).
De Bruyne has been associated with a move to Inter Miami, New York City FC and DC United and San Diego FC, although a transfer to Saudi Arabia is also not excluded.
However, the fire still has one designated player spot, and under the ambitious ownership of Joe Mansueto Berhalter expressed his wish to improve his attacking options.
“I think in a perfect world you would be able to invest in the entire schedule and say,” Ok, we can bring world class players into any position, “but it's not perfect,” he said.
“There is a salary limit, there is a limited amount of designated players. So I think the most feeling is to bring in an attacking player.
“Someone who can consistently change the game of an attacking end and can work with the attacking weapons that we already have more to bring out more and to help them continue and help the team both on and outside the field.”
The Fire Face Atlanta United this weekend, with the five stripes that end their three-game and scoreless run in a 1-1 draw with Nashville SC in their last league match.
Miguel Almiron scored his third competition goal since he returned to the club, brought his count to 24 with Atlanta, which exceeded the list of all time on the list and Thiago Almada.
Head coach of Atlanta, Ronny Deila, was satisfied with the display of his team the last time, but wants to ensure that the focus will remain in the next game.
“I think we played really well for the goal. We were the team we wanted to be, the team we are talking about. I am glad I saw that, and I saw energy,” said Deila.
“In the second half we started to become more passive. That is not something we are talking about, not something we want to do.
“What we did this week, keep doing the same things, believe what we do, and get it [first] period much longer. “
Players to watch
Chicago Fire – Hugo Cuypers
Despite the fact that they had issued a lot of their match against Orlando City SC to 10 men, the fire managed to register a total of 2.62 in total in an expected goals (XG), with Cuypers.
He registered more shots on Target (four) and touches the opposition box (seven) for his team, although he will be happy to turn those opportunities into goals this time.
Atlanta United – Brooks Lennon
Lennon's assist for the goal of Almiron against Nashville was his 35th regular seasonal aid for Atlanta, so that Julian Gressel was most bound in club history.
He also ended the match with team -high totals for touches in the opposition box (five), passes in the last third (15) and won ownership (six).
Brooks Lennon, take a bow pic.twitter.com/550ttt5t3pf
– Atlanta United FC (@atlutd) 4 May 2025
Match -Forecast: Draw
The fire has only lost one of their eight home games against Atlanta (W4 D3), including undefeated in six straights. The last three meetings in Chicago all ended in a draw.
Chicago played a scoreless draw against Orlando on Saturday after he had admitted seven to Nashville in their previous game. The fire is the third MLS team that keeps a clean slate in a match after admitting seven or more goals (San Jose in 2020, Montreal in 2019).
In the meantime, Atlanta has only collected one point in their first four road races of the regular season (D1 L3). The five stripes have won two of their last 13 road from home in competition game dating from last June (D4 L7).
Opta wins probability
Chicago Fire – 38.5%
Drawing – 26.5%
Atlanta United – 35%