The Chicago Fire may not be done with their 2015 transformation.
A report in Goal.com, citing an anonymous source, indicates that the Fire have signed Spanish midfielder Victor Perez on a short-term loan from Liga BBVA side Levante UD. The report has the loan ending June 30 with an option to extend by six months, followed by a provision for a one-year extension beyond that.
Perez would be the 13th newcomer to the Fire roster this season. The Fire have not officially announced the signing.
The 27-year-old Perez (above, left), a product of the Real Madrid and Getafe youth academies, is a box-to-box midfielder who has played in the first and second tiers in Spain. Perez would be joining the Fire under unique circumstances after he was removed from Levante’s roster to make room for the January arrival of Costa Rica’s Brian Ruiz from Fulham.
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FIFA, however, blocked the Ruiz transfer became it didn’t take place before the close the January transfer window. Levante was then unable to reinstate Perez because Spanish Football Federation rules say that once a player is unregistered from a roster list, he can’t be reinstated, leaving Perez unattached.
The Goal.com report indicates that the Fire took advantage of the situation and will only pay a “fraction” of Perez’s salary.
