Rumor has it: Fluminense is interested in signing forward Léo Chú from the Seattle Sounders

As reported on by Tiago Brandão at 1:36 PM on Twitter.com: "Fluminense is interested in signing forward Léo Chú from the Seattle Sounders and has resumed talks for a potential transfer.

Léo has been a long-standing target for Fluminense and came close to joining the club earlier this year.

Lacking opportunities at the Sounders, the winger is keen to play in Brazil again.

With my friend Victor Lessa." Now 1st I want to talk about the reasoning for the move.

Fluminense's most valuable player is 27 year old Colombian Jhon Arias
who is a Right Winger who's valued at 16 million pounds. With their other most valuable winger being Marquinhos who's not only a

Right Winger himself but is also only on loan from Arsenal and that will end on December 31st. While 20 year old Brazilian Issac should be mentioned as in only 6 appearances he's had 2 goals already Chu's logic mostly checks out. It should be said at this point that Leo Chu is a left winger and while Issac is too it would seem that he yes would indeed get more playing time at 1 of Brazil's biggest clubs than 1 of America's. As for the Sounders.

There's 2 camps you could look at this from if we're talking the Sounders POV. This transfer window has seen many of our older stars either heavily rumored to be leaving this season. Raúl Ruidíaz is the most recent Sounders legend to say goodbye, we also had Joao Paulo leave and players like
Albert Rusnák rumored to leave as well. Then we brought in younger players like Travian Sousa and Leo Burney and even Jesus Ferreira. It looks like the end of era for the Sounders as they look on to move on from a aging core that reached it's peak. With Leo Chu's impressive 2023 campaign safe to assume he was supposed to be 1 of the leaders of this new younger era and still can be since he hasn't officially left. So losing someone who you know could contribute 12 goals in a season, break team records like he did against Kansas City and even more since he's only 24 is a very big blow. But only if you believe we can't replace him.

And that's where the other angle comes in. Leo Chu even after a inconsistent 2024 would still fetch a high price and whatever we can get we can reinvest in finding a potentially even younger replacement. It'd be a risk but successful risks are what makes champions, champions. The only winger they're linked to right now is Paul Arriola who's older and managed similar output but doesn't have the same ceiling. So I doubt he's the replacement they have in mind but as of right now I don't know who they d have in mind it better be a great 1 if they're going t take this risk. Thanks a bunch for reading!