Fire Confirm André Franco Loan Arrival
The Chicago Fire confirmed the arrival of 27-year-old midfielder André Franco on a short-term loan from FC Porto until the end of the MLS season this morning. The deal was completed in recent days but is now official following clearance from Major League Soccer and all other necessary bodies, as well as acquisition of a P-1 visa.
Franco, who is predominantly a right winger or attacking midfielder, adds depth in two key areas of the field for the Fire. The club moved winger Omari Glasgow to Loudoun United on loan earlier this summer, and will also benefit from finding a creative alternative to Brian Gutiérrez in the most advanced role of the midfield three.
Crucially, Franco will not be a Designated Player (DP) for the Fire, and fills Chris Mueller's vacated senior roster slot and cap hit after he was added to the Season-Ending Injury list. The Fire are not paying a loan fee to Porto and have an option to make the loan permanent at the end of the season, with a pre-arranged fee in the ballpark of $1.4 million US (€1,2 million). That acquisition fee is low enough that if activated, Franco can remain a Target Allocation Money (TAM) player and would not fill a DP slot in 2026, keeping it open.
Franco is coming off the back of two of the more challenging seasons of his career. He totaled just 424 league minutes in 2024/25, following the 437 minutes he got in 2023/24. Across the last two seasons, Franco has one goal and one assist. In the Club World Cup in the United States earlier this summer, he played for eight minutes in Porto's tournament opener against Palmeiras, but did not feature in the other two matches against Inter Miami and Al-Ahly as os Dragões were eliminated in the group stage.
Despite a difficult spell at Porto, which had him on the transfer list this summer, Franco did show significant promise earlier in his career. He earned the more than €4 million ($4.1 million) move to Porto in 2022 after the best season of his career, notching 11 goals and 4 assists in Liga Portugal with newly-promoted GD Estoril Praia.
The Fire now have one open senior roster spot and can fill it with either a third DP or a fourth Under-22 Initiative player. If they do not sign a DP and stick with the "2+4+2" roster construction model, the team can count on an additional $1,000,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM), which would be a welcome outcome. Berhalter and his staff remain flexible with their transfer approach this summer and might be open to signing a midfield DP if the right opportunity arises, but they are not going to force it and remain methodical with an eye toward long-term strategic freedom.
As he has received visa clearance, Franco is eligible for selection immediately. The Fire host St. Louis CITY SC on Saturday at SeatGeek Stadium.
