Current Chicago Fire FC Designated Player Xherdan Shaqiri put it bluntly: “I want to return to Europe.” The Fire are almost certainly feeling mutual. so would want that outcome, to open the DP spot and have a clean break. We’ll see this summer if it happens.
Shaqiri is one of the highest-paid players in all of Major League Soccer, having signed a five-year, $16,900,000 contract with the Men in Red. He is also the most expensive player in club history (an $8 million transfer fee) and he hasn’t come even remotely close to delivering the return on investment that this was expected.
Perhaps no player embodies the disparity between form for country vs. form for club. He has always been that way, wherever he has gone, but the contrast has never been starker than now. On Wednesday, Xherdan Shaqiri became the only player to score in the last three Euros and the last three World Cups
He also became the first Major League Soccer player to ever score at the European Championships. And his former Liverpool teammate, Daniel Sturridge, called it! In doing studio work for FOX, as he previewed/hyped the Switzerland-Scotland score draw, Sturridge picked Shaqiri as his player to watch/get things done in the then upcoming match.
Sturridge referenced pop star Shakira, saying her catch-phrase “hips don’t lie” applies to Shaq as well. Shaqiri then scored an absolute banger, and celebrated with a botched knee slide. While he looked the part of a midfield maestro again, he botched the knee slide celebration badly, and thus invited another round of social media comments labeling him a human cube.
However, the Fire weren’t all that enthusiastic on Twitter in their “celebrating” his goal. Who can blame them? They didn’t hype up his leaving for the Euros too much either.
XHERDAN SHAQIRI WOULD WIN THE BALLON D’OR IF TOURNAMENT FOOTBALL WAS THE ONLY FOOTBALL. ??
WHAT A GOAL. ?pic.twitter.com/lkE1VdbD5T
— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) June 19, 2024
It’s also worth noting that they haven’t been using him much in club branding, and given that he’s out of contract at the end of the season in October…the writing isn’t just on the wall- it’s highlighted in bold marker and giant font. With very limited designated player contracts assigned to each MLS team, they need to cut ties ASAP.
They can then open up a DP slot and sign a new expensive star once Shaqiri is gone.
Xherdan Shaqiri is the first player to score in the last three World Cups and European Championships:
2014 World Cup—???
2016 Euros—?
2018 World Cup—?
2020 Euros—???
2022 World Cup—?
2024 Euros—?He loves the big stage ? pic.twitter.com/4owJP8s5sU
— B/R Football (@brfootball) June 19, 2024
Oh and the Fire are unbeaten in the three games since Shaqiri left for Germany. Honestly, this divorce would be great for both sides. He doesn’t even need to play another minute for the Fire.
His stats with the Lakeshore club are so embarrassing, we won’t even post them here.
Yet Swiss Shaq is a midfield maestro, as you can see from the X post above.
So where does he go now? Not likely to Liverpool (where he has won most of the major trophies of his career), he doesn’t fit there, at this stage of his career.
More likely is a return to FC Basel, in his home country, and he seemed to imply that when discussing this topic with reporters recently.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network and the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.