BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- Chicago Fire Head Coach and Director of Soccer Frank Yallop returned to Toyota Park on Wednesday from a 10-day scouting trip of Europe.
Yallop spent the bulk of his time in his native England and not wanting to give too much about his targets away, Yallop first joked about getting reacquainted with driving on the other side of the road.
“Overall, it was a good trip,” he said. “It was catching up with the possible targets I had through scouts, agents and [digital scouting platform] WyScout. It was a real busy time that I felt was productive.”
Taking in a number of games while in England, Yallop specifically mentioned visits to Queens Park Rangers, Norwich City and his old club Ipswich Town for training sessions.
“There were specific targets but you never say no to anybody. I was watching practice with one of the teams and someone stood out to me – I was asking about them. That’s part of how you come about players, getting out there, seeing them and their tendencies and how they train.”
Noting that players based in England have contracts that run through June, Yallop also spent time in Sweden and Denmark where player contracts run out at year’s end, similar to Major League Soccer.
“January is a funny window and you have to deal with when contracts run out,” he said. “There are possibilities for us in both places though.
“I saw a lot of players, spoke to a lot of people and feel I made some good in-roads to what’s available.”
In the mean time, Yallop and his staff are close to finalizing who from the 2014 team will return next year ahead of the beginning of Major League Soccer’s series of offseason drafts.
Those begin with the Chivas USA Dispersal Draft next Wednesday, November 19 where the Fire manager said he’s “hoping to have a chance of getting someone.”
From there, he’ll finalize his protected list for the December 10 Expansion Draft. Phase One of the MLS Re-Entry Draft takes place two days later, with the Phase Two on December 19.
Yallop signaled the Fire could be active in all stages of offseason player movement as well as potential trades within the league.
“It’s heating up right now,” he said. “Some guys shake loose for whatever reason – salary or not getting protected. We’ve been on to most teams about who they would like to trade for something and who is available from the other teams that we like.
“Obviously, the protection list coming out, it does usually shake some players loose and hopefully we can nab a couple.”
