I missed this back when the news broke in August - Joe Mansueto
purchased FC Lugano of the Swiss Super League. And he put Georg Heitz as director of football for both clubs.
This is paying off now as it appears Ignacio Aliseda will be transferred from the Fire to Lugano in January, which opens up a Young DP slot. Aliseda came in 2 seasons ago looking like a classic Heitz move - a young player who flashed tremendous skills, but was physically under-developed and in need of more playing time than he was getting in Argentina.
But it hasn’t quite panned out as well as hoped. Aliseda landed in the US and a week later the country shut down due to the pandemic. Only 19, he knew no one in Chicago and barely spoke English. It was a tough transition. When matches resumed, he was pushed around a good bit and doesn’t seem to fit well into Wicky’s system (if we can call it thag).
This last season was a lot more hit or miss for Aliseda, who fought injuries and got bounced between being an in cutting left wing, a #10, and a wide right winger. Still only 21, he could blossom with good structure and coaching.
The transfer fee will be minimal, if anything at all. Mostly this opens up a DP a lot and salary for Chicago.
Clearly the Man City and a Red Bull clubs are part of international networks to clubs, but they are also clearly feeders up to larger clubs. Is there anything similar to the Fire-Lugano relationship in MLS where the MLS club is an equal or maybe even the bigger club in its network?