5 reasons Kevin De Bruyne to the Chicago Fire makes sense | OneFootball

We admit we all got a little excited last week when the idea of Kevin De Bruyne linking up with Inter Miami first came to light.

With Messi and his cohort of former FC Barcelona teammates, Miami is already the strongest collection of star power ever assembled on an MLS roster. Adding De Bruyne would give the Herons a genuine Super Team feel.

But there are significant salary rule complications that would impede a potential move from Man City to Miami. And culturally, it also might make sense for the Herons to tack in a different direction.

That's not the case with Chicago, who according to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has now approached the Belgian star with a credible offer for a free transfer.

We already identified Chicago as one of the ideal landing spots for the 33-year-old creative midfielder earlier this month.

Now it's time to dive a little deeper. Here are five reasons De Bruyne would fit almost seamlessly with the aims of the Chicago Fire.

There's clearly money to spend

Fire fans may want to forget given the results, but the fact that Chicago owner Joe Mansueto bankrolled a deal for Xherdan Shaqiri that made the Swiss star the highest-paid player in MLS before Messi's arrival shows the Fire are capable of meeting De Bruyne's potential lofty salary demands.

De Bruyne earns around $27.5 million annually at City, and while he's expected to take a substantial pay cut to come to MLS, even a contract worth half of that would make him the third-highest-paid player in MLS behind Messi and Toronto FC's Lorenzo Insigne.

Given that the 33-year-old was still producing at a Premier League title-winning level as recently as a year ago, you're almost certainly looking at a compensation package in that ballpark if he's to come to MLS, with potential suitors from the Saudi Pro League able to offer significantly more.

A perfect fit for Chicago's roster

Unlike in Miami, who already have two older, highly creative attacking players in Messi and Luis Suarez, at Chicago De Bruyne would immediately become the Fire's chief chance creator and service provider on a team that has already proven pretty potent by committee.

Hugo Cuypers is a high-level MLS striker, but he's service-reliant. And while Brian Gutierrez is a promising young attacking midfielder, he's probably better when he can play out wide off a true No. 10, which De Bruyne is.

Additionally, while no one doubts De Bruyne would make Miami even better offensively, he would make defending for the Herons a bit more complicated when he, Messi and Suarez were all on the field together. That's not a concern for a Chicago group whose teamwide work rate is pretty elevated.

An open Designated Player spot

This is the most obvious one.

With an open Designated Player spot on their current roster, Chicago would be able to spend limitlessly on De Bruyne without having to do any major roster manipulation. (Although they would have to find a way to acquire his discovery rights from Miami.)

The roster-rule outlook for adding De Bruyne to Miami, while not impossible, would be a lot more complicated, and potentially require some creative accounting that might not go down well at other MLS clubs or in the league office.

An easy tactical transition

The principles of Fire manager Gregg Berhalter's ball-dominant 4-3-3 -- often a 3-2-2-3 in possession -- are not very different from how Manchester City have preferred to play under Pep Guardiola.

That doesn't mean De Bruyne couldn't also succeed under Miami boss Javier Mascherano, who has shown considerable flexibility in his first season in charge based on his players available. But it would probably require a larger tactical shift to assimilate De Bruyne into the group.

No cultural clash

If De Bruyne went to Miami, he would've been arguably the second-highest profile player in terms of current ability, but at risk of being an outsider based on cultural factors.

To this point, Miami's roster has been built deliberately around Messi as the focal point, from a cultural as well as tactical perspective. The majority of the Herons' current key contributors are native Spanish speakers from South America -- including a handful of Messi's Argentine compatriots -- and there's no doubt among anyone who to defer to in the big moments.

De Bruyne has spent his entire club career in Belgium, England and Germany, and his CV does not suggest potentially playing a sidekick role at the MLS level. In Chicago (and at most MLS clubs) he would be the clear team leader, but not at Miami.