Hristo Stoichkov
Bulgarian forward Hristo Stoichkov has been cleared by his former club, Kashiwa Reysol of the
J.League, to sign with MLS and play in Chicago, according to a report in a Spanish newspaper,
Marca. The Fire is pursuing replacements for departed players Roman Kosecki and Jerzy
Podbrozny. "The point is that when you deal with international players, it's very hard to have
time frames," Fire coach Bob Bradley said following a training session Tuesday afternoon.
"Things just take longer than you expect. We feel that we're in the process of moving forward
with some possibilities. Hopefully something will be finalized within the next few weeks."

I thought Stoichkov had retired.

I gather he was not too happy in Japan with Kashiwa Reysol and he retired at some point... but it was kind of thought to be temporary all along.

I'm not sure whether he is the sort of player MLS should be trying for, but he did make a name for himself in the USA in 1994, so perhaps that will sell some tickets.

Personally, I've seen him yell at teammates, and complain to officials too many times. He has always seemed like a talented jerk to me.
Chicago is a decent team with some good young talent in Wolff and Razov. Podbrozny and Nowak are probably going to fade at some point, but I don't think Stoichkov is the answer. I can't see him helping team chemistry any.

jsbach,

Actually, Podbrozny was dropped from the team a couple of weeks ago. I agree with you that Stoichkov isn't exactly the type of player that MLS should be signing, though.

Podbrozny is back in Poland, he's gonna play for Zaglebie Lubin, currently in 6th place on 1st Division.

Stoichov was the best player in the world, well circa '94. I was quite disappointed with his play at Kashiwa Reysol. Normally he didn't even make the starting xi. A player like former Yugoslav Dragan Stojkovic is someone who can continue playing at high standards, even if there isn't tons of press.