Bakary Soumare said he was surprised to hear the Fire traded for the second pick in Friday’s MLS SuperDraft to select him.
The real surprise, however, was who the Fire gave up to take the Virginia defender: forward Andy Herron.
The Fire dealt its club MVP to the Columbus Crew for its No. 2 overall pick and forward Ryan Coiner.
“This is not an easy trade,” Fire general manager John Guppy said.
Herron joined the Fire late in the 2004 season and saw his playing time increase last year with injuries to forwards Chris Rolfe and Chad Barrett. His nine goals in 2006 led the team. The move makes way for a Rolfe-Barrett pairing up top.
The Fire took Jerson Monteiro of Alabama-Birmingham with its second pick of the first round, eighth overall.
Toronto FC selected Maryland’s Maurice Edu with the No. 1 pick in the draft and the Kansas City Wizards selected North Carolina’s Michael Harrington with the third.
According to Guppy, the 6-foot-4-inch Soumare was drafted to replace defender Tony Sanneh, the Fire’s highest-paid player last season.
In December, Sanneh admitted he likely would not return because the team had asked him to take a bigger pay cut than he had expected. Sanneh said he was considering a move to Europe.
“Sanneh will not be back next season,” Guppy said. “We couldn’t pass up [Soumare] . . . he could be the next Eddie Pope.”
Soumare, 21, was born in Mali and moved to France when he was 3. He has lived with a foster family in the United States since he was 15 and is hoping to gain U.S. citizenship.
“In the past week, I’ve heard a lot of teams were interested, but Chicago never came up,” Soumare said. “I’ve been to Chicago for tournaments, but don’t know much about [the city].”
Fire coach Dave Sarachan believes Soumare can make an immediate impact.
“[Soumare] was arguably the best defender in the draft,” Sarachan said. “He [has] good size and good technical abilities. He has a chance for minutes early [in the season]. With his size, [he’s] going to be dangerous in the air.”
As for Monteiro, Sarachan said, “Monteiro had a terrific [MLS] combine–he could be a good right side player.”
Notre Dame midfielder Nate Norman was the Fire’s second-round selection, 21st overall. The Fire selected Southern Illinois-Edwardsville midfielder Mike Banner in the third round (34th) and Simon Omekanda of Penn State in the fourth (47th).
The draft is where the Fire has acquired most of its top players recently, including Justin Mapp, Rolfe and Matt Pickens–all of whom are training with the U.S. national team.
Corner kicks
The Fire is confident it will host the Los Angeles Galaxy in the fall this season. With David Beckham not leaving Real Madrid for the Galaxy until August, this is good news for Fire fans hoping to see Beckham make his Toyota Park debut this season. . . . One MLS team has shown interest in longtime Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton, who lost his starting spot to Pickens last season. According to Guppy, both sides are “still discussing” a trade.
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larroyave@tribune.com
