Following his departure from Bar\u00e7a as a free agent, veteran forward Robert Lewandowski fielded interest from AC Milan and the Saudi Pro League, but has ultimately chosen to continue his career in North America.<\/p>\n
The move will be a massive coup for MLS, ensuring the league maintains its momentum in attracting world-class talent.<\/p>\n
Lewandowski, who visited Chicago earlier this month to inspect the club’s facilities and discuss the project, is expected to be among the league\u2019s highest earners. He is set to follow in the footsteps of Barcelona icon Lionel Messi in making the jump to the United States during the twilight of a remarkable career.<\/p>\n
Chicago Fire head coach and director of football Gregg Berhalter has been vocal about his desire to bring elite talent to Soldier Field. Speaking about the pursuit of the striker, Berhalter said: “We\u2019re trying to recruit world-class players. We think [Lewandowski would] be a great signing not only for the Chicago Fire, but for the league, to have a player of that caliber. We see him right up there with Messi in terms of ability, and it\u2019d be great for the city of Chicago.”<\/p>\n
The Poland international is set to leave Europe as a certified legend, having secured his third league title in his four years with Barcelona. His arrival is timed to boost the Fire’s profile ahead of their move to the new McDonald\u2019s Park stadium in the South Loop, while serving the city’s significant Polish population.<\/p>\n
Lewandowski\u2019s arrival might only be the start of a major recruitment drive for the Fire. The Athletic adds that the club is hoping that Lewandowski’s arrival can help convince his former Bayern Munich teammate Leon Goretzka to also join the club.<\/p>\n
The Germany international remains in discussions with the MLS side, and the Fire hope that the prospect of reuniting with Lewandowski will convince him to choose Chicago over competing offers from major European clubs.<\/p>\n
The landscape of MLS has shifted dramatically since Messi\u2019s arrival at Inter Miami in 2023, and Lewandowski is set to be the latest piece in that puzzle. The league is currently enjoying a surge of commercial interest, bolstered by the presence of stars like Son Heung-min and Thomas M\u00fcller across various franchises.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lewandowski will be joining a side with genuine silverware ambitions, too, as The Fire currently sit third in the 2026 Eastern Conference, five points behind Inter Miami having played a game less.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY Following his departure from Bar\u00e7a as a free agent, veteran forward Robert Lewandowski fielded interest from AC Milan and the Saudi Pro League, but has ultimately chosen to continue his career in North America. The move will be a massive coup for MLS, ensuring the league maintains its momentum in attracting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}