Sources: Fire In Talks For André Franco Loan
The Chicago Fire are in negotiations to sign André Franco on loan from FC Porto, sources told MIR97 Media. The interest was reported earlier this morning by GiveMeSport.
Franco, a 27-year-old Portuguese midfielder, will, crucially, not be a Designated Player as suggested in the initial report. Instead, he will arrive on loan for the remainder of the season, serving as Chris Mueller’s roster replacement since he was added to the Season-Ending Injury list. The Fire are able to sign a player with a cap hit equal to or less than Mueller’s for the remainder of the season. The Fire will have an option to make the move permanent after the 2025 campaign.
Although he is joining the Fire from one of Portugal’s biggest clubs, Franco has hardly played in the last 12 months. The attacking midfielder made 17 appearances and four starts in 2024/25, totaling just 425 minutes of action in Liga Portugal. He featured for eight minutes in the FIFA Club World Cup here in the United States, coming off the bench against Palmeiras.
Franco will add another dimension to an already packed midfield unit for the Fire. 22-year-old Brian Gutiérrez has played the bulk of the minutes as the most advanced of the midfield trio, but has lacked consistency in the final third. Franco can also play on the wing, a position filled by Jonathan Bamba, Maren Haile-Selassie, and Philip Zinckernagel.
As a part of the loan arrangement, the Fire will have an option to make the move permanent at the end of the season. He will fill Omari Glasgow’s open international slot, which was vacated this weekend as he moves to Loudoun United on loan for the rest of 2025.
As Franco is not a DP, the Fire's third and final slot remains open. Earlier this summer, Director of Football and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter made important bids to sign central midfielders Kevin de Bruyne and Patrick Berg for that slot, but neither move ultimately materialized. If the Fire do not sign a third DP, they will stick with the "2+4+2" roster construction path, which would leave one open Under 22 Initiative slot and will give the team an additional $1,000,000 of General Allocation Money.
