Chicago Fire Designated Player David Accam this week found his name swept up in Transfer Deadline Day rumors. But as the calendar flipped to September, Accam remained firmly entrenched as one of the Fire’s leading men, on and off the pitch.
Reports surfaced Wednesday that FC Nantes of France’s Ligue 1 had approached Chicago Fire brass with an offer to acquire Accam’s services. The standout Ghanaian international has scored 17 goals in MLS and 22 in all competitions since debuting for the Fire last season.
The offer, unsolicited by club and player, was enough to merit the attention of GM Nelson Rodríguez, but ultimately didn’t measure up to Rodríguez’ own visions for Accam in Chicago.
“We rejected that offer first, although it was significant, [because] we didn’t think it was necessarily his full market value,” Rodríguez said in a sit-down with media members Thursday. “But more importantly, we rejected it because we see David becoming a key piece of our team. As of August 1, we have been involved in discussions with David’s representation about a contract extension that would keep him contractually to our services for more than his current contract, which is guaranteed next year with an option for 2018, and we’re looking to extend that all the way through 2020.”
Watch: Full Nelson Rodríguez media session
The prospect of seeing Accam in a Fire shirt for at least the next four seasons is one that appears to be mutually appealing to both sides.
“David has directly expressed a desire to also remain in Chicago,” Rodríguez said of Accam, who currently is enjoying his latest call-up to the Ghanaian national team. “He loves the city. He loves the club. I believe he’s been playing his best soccer, especially the second half of the year. He’s taken a much more visible and larger leadership role on the field and in the locker room.”
As for a potential timeframe for when such a longterm extension may be ironed out, Rodríguez shared with a smile the sort of wrinkle that can sometimes play into these types of negotiations.
"The conversations and actual negotiations that we’ve had have been extremely positive and productive," he said. "[David’s] away on FIFA duty, his representative is getting married in September, so we’ll see if we can get those things tied up before the wedding, if not we’ll continue soon thereafter.”
