BRIDGEVIEW, IL—The Chicago Fire have traded their first round SuperDraft pick from 2018, Jon Bakero, to Toronto FC for midfielder and Liechtenstein international Nicolas Hasler and $50,000 in General Allocation Money. Hasler, 27, will be added to the roster upon receipt of his ITC and P1 Visa.
Hasler joined TFC from FC Vaduz of the Swiss League where he made 157 appearances and scored 14 goals and six assists in six seasons. With TFC, Hasler made 26 regular season and playoff appearances scoring three times and tallying four assists. He has 51 caps for Liechtenstein.
Bakero could not quite crack the lineup for the Fire and made just four appearances for the Men in Red. The Fire acquired the fifth pick in exchange for the 15th pick, $75,000 in GAM, $100,000 in Targeted Allocation Money, and goalkeeper Matt Lampson to Minnesota United in January.
With the additions of Nicolas Del Grecco and Raheem Edwards, the Fire will likely have to move one or two international players since they would still have ten currently on the books. Hasler would be an improvement over Bakero, but it’s looking increasingly unlikely that the Fire will acquire someone that will placate the Fire faithful, let alone get them excited.
