Chicago Fire to release 7 players - Beric, Stojanovic & Medrán among those to be released

The total rebuild at Major League Soccer side Chicago Fire has begun. On Monday, the club announced that the club will not exercise the contract options on the following seven players:  forward Robert Berić, defender Francisco Calvo, midfielder Elliot Collier, goalkeeper Kenneth Kronholm, midfielder Álvaro Medrán, defender Nick Slonina, and midfielder Luka Stojanović. Berić was one of the club's ten most expensive signings when he joined from AS Saint-Étienne in 2020. 

Furthermore, defender Johan Kappelhof and goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth will not receive new contracts. Both players are slated to become free agents when their contracts expire at the end of 2021. 

“On behalf of the Club, I’d like to thank each of these players for their contributions to the Fire,” Chicago Fire sporting director Georg Heitz said in a club statement. “As we enter a very important offseason, we felt that these decisions were necessary as we begin to upgrade the roster. We wish the players who are departing all the best and look forward to providing additional roster updates in the coming weeks.”