Fire acquire forward Sapong from Union

[February 25, 2019]    The Chicago Fire traded for forward CJ Sapong from the Philadelphia Union in exchange for allocation money that could reach $450,000, both teams revealed on Saturday.

The 30-year-old Sapong is coming off a difficult season in 2018 after netting a career-best 16 goals the year before. He scored just four times last season, eventually switching positions to a wider attacking spot to give way to Cory Burke, who scored 10 goals in 2018 for Philadelphia.

"CJ has produced many memorable moments in a Union shirt, and his efforts in the community have been admirable," Union sporting director Ernst Tanner said in a statement. "With the strong state of our forward depth chart, we believe that this is the best move for both CJ and for the Union at this time."

Sapong has played eight seasons in the MLS, four with Sporting Kansas City (2011-14) and the last four with the Union (2015-18). In 233 career games (177 starts), Sapong has scored 56 goals with 23 assists. He averaged 10.7 goals per season in each of his first three years with Philadelphia.

"CJ brings a different skill set to our attacking options," Chicago president and GM Nelson Rodriguez said in a statement. "We can now be more varied in how we attack."

The Union will receive a combination of 2019 General Allocation Money ($200,000), 2020 Targeted Allocation Money ($100,00) and another $100,000 in 2019 General Allocation Money pending Chicago acquiring the funds during next season.

-Field Level Media

[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.