Dean Boltz Loaned to Forward Madison

Dean Boltz is back in Madison for the rest of this season, the Chicago Fire announced this afternoon. The 19-year-old center forward was the #3 overall SuperDraft pick out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and will join Forward Madison of USL League One on loan for the rest of the 2025 season.

Boltz, who left Wisconsin-Madison after one semester when he was offered a Generation Adidas contract by Major League Soccer, came out of nowhere at the start of the last college season and scored seven goals in his first four games. A Chicago-area native, Boltz was drafted third overall by the Fire – a team he grew up supporting but never played for at the academy level at any point.

Despite starting preseason with the Fire first team in Florida, Boltz has exclusively been a member of Chicago Fire II for the entirety of the 2025 season and has not even trained with the first team. He has made 19 MLS Next Pro appearances, starting 10 times and scoring just twice. In the last few months, he has slipped behind 2024 SuperDraft second-rounder Jason Shokalook, who is unexpectedly among the league's Golden Boot contenders.

In Madison, Boltz will be able to get regular minutes and return to the city where he spent his freshman year in the fall of 2024. Forward Madison are currently second-bottom of the USL League One standings, but maintain an outside chance of reaching that league's playoffs as they are still just five points behind eighth place.

For the Fire first team, this move does not change anything of consequence. Boltz remains on the supplemental roster and is still under contract until 2027 because of his GA deal with MLS. For the second team, this move leaves the team with just one out-and-out #9 in the form of Shokalook, though others like Jhoiner Montiel, David Tchétchao, and Vitaliy Hlyut can also play there if necessary.