Campbell, Conner, and De Leeuw among those declined.
BRIDGEVIEW, IL–After announcing on Sunday that they exercised the option on Elliot Collier’s contract, the Chicago Fire made decisions on 13 other players on Monday. The Fire exercised options for 2019 on midfielders Brandt Bronico, Raheem Edwards, and Nicolas Hasler; defenders Diego Campos and Jorge Corrales; and goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland. The seven players whose options were declined were defender Jonathan Campbell; midfielders Michael de Leeuw, Daniel Johnson; goalkeeper Patrick McLain, and forwards Yura Movsisyan and Luis Solignac.
All of those who had their options declined except Johnson are eligible for the MLS Re-Entry Draft while Johnson is eligible for the MLS Waiver Draft.
Eight players are guaranteed for next season: Mo Adams, Nicolas Del Grecco, Aleksandar Katai, Grant Lillard, Dax McCarty, Djordje Mihailovic, Nemanja Nikolic, and Richard Sanchez. Johan Kappelhof, Matt Polster, and Bastian Schweinsteiger are currently out of contract. The club is continuing negotiations with de Leeuw, Kappelhof, Polster, and Schweinsteiger.
It should be noted that Katai becomes a Designated Player in 2019 along with Nikolic and, if he signs again, Schweinsteiger. Replenishing the roster will certainly require either moving a DP or lots of allocation money of both the targeted and general variety.
