As Germany opens its World Cup against Curacao on Sunday, one of its players may end up extending his stay in the United States beyond the tournament.
A source confirmed to ESPN that German international and Bayern Munich midfielder Leon Goretzka is being pursued by MLS side the Chicago Fire.
The source also confirmed that Chicago remains in talks with Goretzka's former club teammate Robert Lewandowski, with the club "closing in, but not done" in terms of a deal to land the Barcelona and Poland international forward. The source requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The Athletic was first to report the news.
Both players are free agents, with their respective contracts expiring at the end of the month.
The two players were teammates at Bayern from 2018 to 2022. Goretzka, 31, won seven Bundesliga titles and one Champions League during a hugely successful eight-season spell with Bayern. All told, he made 312 appearances with the club in all competitions. He had previous spells in the Bundesliga with Vfl Bochum and Schalke 04. At international level, Goretzka had made 70 appearances for Germany.
Lewandowski, 37, has been one of Europe's most prolific strikers for almost two decades. In addition to his time with Barcelona and Bayern, he also enjoyed success with the likes of Lech Poznan in his native Poland and Borussia Dortmund. Over the course of his career he has made over 900 appearances at club level, scoring 662 goals. Last season with Barcelona he scored 19 goals in 46 appearances in all competitions.
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Signing both players would require some creativity by the Fire in terms of the salary budget, as Chicago has just one Designated Player (DP) spot left. But with both players arriving in midseason, it's possible that one of the contracts could be structure in a way so as not to count as a DP this season, much like Inter Miami did with Rodrigo De Paul in 2025.