CHICAGO, IL–Chicago Fire FC landed a striker, though probably not the one fans expected (or hoped for in some cases). On Friday, the Fire got Kei Kamara from CF Montreal in exchange for $250,000 in general allocation money to be split over two seasons with the potential of $150,000 more should certain performance-based incentives are met.
“We are excited to welcome Kei Kamara to the Fire,” said Chicago Fire FC Sporting Director Georg Heitz. “Kei has shown throughout his career that he can consistently produce goals in MLS, including this past season with CF Montréal. Not only will he help to make us more dangerous in the attacking third, but he will bring experience and leadership to the squad. Kei will be an important addition to the team as we continue to build the squad for the 2023 season.”
Kamara, 38, will be joining his tenth team in Major League Soccer. He is the third all-time leading goalscorer in MLS with 139 career goals behind Landon Donovan’s 145 and Chris Wondolowski’s 171. Last season, Kamara scored nine goals for CF Montreal which was second on the team (and would’ve been first on the Fire), but later publicly requested a trade.
Previous stops for Kamara include Columbus, San Jose, Houston, Sporting Kansas City, New England, Vancouver, Colorado, and Minnesota. The longest he has spent at any club was the five seasons from 2009 to 2013 in Kansas City.
THOUGHTS: While MLSSoccer.com’s Tom Boggert says that the Fire are still in the market for a Designated Player forward, one could expect this deal to be a stop gap or a depth piece until the Fire actually sign one. Lack of goals was a problem last season for the Fire and bringing in Kamara should add depth along with Kacper Przybylko as he attempts to regain the form he had in Philadelphia. Of course, should Kamara’s inability to mesh well with his teammates creep up again, and he doesn’t score goals, then fans will not want to wait for the end of this season for Georg Heitz to be sacked.
