Léo Chú might be out the door: Who should replace him?

Rumors have been reported on Twitter that Léo Chú is being shown interest by Fluminense 1 of the Brazilian big 12. Now he's a very good and very fun to watch attacker and I don't want him to leave, but this is why you should always have plan b's and c's, especially with how unpredictable the transfer window can be. It looks extremely likely FC Dallas winger Paul Arriola will join the Sounders. He's 29 and has only matched Chu's 2023 12 total goal contributions once in the past 4 season. So there's a pretty good chance he won't be an adequate replacement. So let's explore who should replace him? 

Naturally, we're starting with the 18 year old Serbian Lazar Jovanovic. He's someone who I've made an article on and featured in another one. And that's because he's a cheap talent. In the Super liga Srbije this year, in 4 appearances, he already has a goal and 2 assists showing his quality, as he's already shown himself to be productive in a good European league. The flaw with this would be that he wouldn't be able to handle the MLS immediately but after a year or 2 of development, there's a great chance he'll develop into a much better player than Leo Chu. And we could get him for cheap right now, so we should. Not to mention, with Arriola being 29 and if we want to use him as a Leo Chu replacement, we could for 1-2 years, while Jovanovic comes off the bench and grows into an elite MLS player. Then we can sell Arriola and play Jonovonic for 1-2 years before selling him and also buying and developing his replacement. Win-win either way.  

Next is the Mexican-American winger who plays in Nashville by the name of Jonathan Pérez. The 22-year old was a ex-LA Galaxy player and only joined Nashville last year. That being said, this time there hasn't been much. In 6 appearances last season, he didn't contribute any goals or assists. So I'm not doing the best job selling you on him, am I? Luckily I have his MLS Next Pro stats for that. This season, Pérez showed his potential when with 2 different clubs in 2024, in 8 appearances, he had an impressive 3 goals and 3 assists, showing his potential to become an elite MLS winger. So while he hasn't put it together yet, perhaps Seattle is the place he can breakout. And of course, him coming off the bench for Arriola could also and I'd argue, be more fitting for him too. Also, he was born in America but he does play for Mexico, so I don't know where he'd fall on DP rules. But if he doesn't, it's another good reason to get him. 

Another MLS guy and 1 from FC Dallas, since we're so keen on buying from them would be the Romanian winger Enes Sali. Only 18, the only downside I see to this is that if FC Dallas is selling both Paul Arriola and Jesus Ferreira, it's very likely 1 of the reasons they're willing to do that is that they see Sali as a fitting replacement for 1 of em, probably Arriola considering the position. It says a lot that someone who's only played in MLS Next Pro and is of course so young has already snatched a senior cap for Romania. In 25 appearances in the 2024 MLS Next Pro season when he was 17, he had 13 total goal contributions, with 8 goals and 5 assists. He even scored a goal in the playoffs. The stated reason FC Dallas are so ready to depart with 2 key contributors is because they want to build around the style of their new coach. I don't know how well Sali fits with his style, but if there's any doubts, we could play on those and also get him on the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, along with Paul Arriola and Jesus Ferreira. Either way, coming to Seattle or not, he's 1 to look out for.

Another option in the MLS would be the Polish winger Dominik Marczuk from Real Salt Lake City. The Pol has had a meh start to life in America. In 8 appearances last season, he had a goal and an assist. I'd argue that it could be taking him a bit to adjust to the American game and that's because he has shown his quality before. In this Polish top tier, the Ekstraklasa, in his last season there, which was the 2023/24 season, in a hefty 34 appearances, he had 19 total goal contributions, with 6 goals and 13 assists, showing that with the right coaching, he could do brilliant things in the MLS. And perhaps it's a matter of convincing him the right coaching is in Seattle and not in Salt Lake City, because when has it ever been in Salt Lake City? Also we have less Mormons, so that could convince him.  

Lastly we started with a foreign signing and we'll end with 1. Faniel Tewelde is a Norwegian 18 year old currently playing in Belgium and I'm surprised he's as cheap as he is. He recently moved to Lommel SK in the top division of Belgium. He's only had 4 appearances so far this year with no goals or assists but my hype comes from his time in Norway with Odds BK. There, in 2 seasons with the senior team, he had 44 appearances and with 11 goals, which doesn't sound impressive until you remember that's when he was 16 to 17. Again, that wasn't with the  u21's or u19's, it was with the senior team with the adults. His time in the Norway u18's has also been impressive with him having 4 appearances with 3 goals. The start of his career reminds me a lot of Martin Ødegaard. In his time, in the top flight of Norway which he also started at 16, he had 23 appearances and had 5 goals with 7 assists. So while I'm not saying he's the next Martin Ødegaard, if you know anything about him then you'd know being a step or 2 below him makes you a pretty good MLS player, and certainly worth the around 2.50 million pound risk he's currently worth, which again sounds too low. Also it's Martin Ødegaard's birthday today so happy birthday man, hope your season with Arsenal turns around soon and you give that quality everyone knows you're capable of! That's all for now, thanks a bunch for reading!