Sources: Brody Williams signs Fire II contract

15-year-old midfielder Brody Williams has signed a professional contract with Chicago Fire II, sources told MIR97 Media. The South African-born top prospect most recently played at the FC Barcelona Residency in Arizona but previously lived in the Chicago area.

Williams, who has lived in the United States for four years, is one of the top domestic central midfield prospects. While his initial contract is a second team deal, he is almost certainly a contender for a future homegrown contract. MLS rules prevent Next Pro contracts from having a built-in "option" to convert to a first team deal, so this is officially just a second team contract.

Though he had never played in the Fire's academy system previously, instead playing with the FC Barcelona Academy in Schaumburg, Williams was on the Fire's list of protected players. This ensured that the Fire held his rights despite never being a part of the academy pipeline previously.

Williams primarily plays as a central midfielder with qualities on both sides of the ball. He has previously been called into U.S. Soccer I.D. camps but is currently ineligible to play in matches as he isn't an American citizen. The box-to-box player is considered one of the best dribbling midfielders in the whole MLS Next system. While his contract is with the second team, he will start in Chicago with the academy teams in MLS Next and could feature alongside MLS Homegrown player and fellow 2010-born top talent Robert Turdean.

Williams is the third teenager to sign an MLS Next Pro deal with the club this offseason, following Vitaliy Hlyut (born in 2008) and Darris Hyte (born in 2009), who were both the first two academy players signed to Fire II contracts. The club also worked hard to sign former New York Red Bulls academy player Sam Williams and traded for his rights when he signed a homegrown deal last week.

In addition, Williams is the next in a growing line of prospects who came through the Barça Residency program in Arizona. Some of the top products include Julián Araujo, Caden Clark, Matthew Hoppe, Diego Luna, and Rokas Pukštas.

Read more:

https://meninred97.com/sources-vitaliy-hlyut-signs-with-chicago-fire-ii/

https://meninred97.com/sources-robert-turdean-signs-chicago-fire-homegrown-deal/

https://meninred97.com/fire-ii-creating-a-standard-in-third-season/