Rooney, Chicharito, Fabregas and Modric reportedly being considered by LAFC

ESPNFC dropped a pretty massive story concerning Los Angeles Football Club on Monday, reporting Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney is “being considered by the club,” in addition to the mooted possibilities of Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas, Mexico superstar Chicharito, and Real Madrid’s Luka Modric.

The story, as you may have gleaned, concerns LAFC’s quest to sign a marquee name to launch the team-building project. The team, which will enter MLS for the 2018 season, have been thought to be likely to begin building the roster in the summer of 2017, something club president Tom Penn confirmed in the story.

"So in terms of timings, we have the opportunity in the summer window to announce who our players will be in 2018.

"They will likely be loaned back so they can continue to play in Europe, but we can have three Designated Players that can exceed the salary cap and we can work creative arrangements with them financially.

"So we expect to be working on that in the next nine months, towards an announcement in the summer."

Now, it’s one thing to yell out “We want Chicharito!” and it’s another to actually sign the guy to a contract, but this is the first time the club has been on record with actually publicly identifying players they are interested in signing.

As for the quartet identified, I don’t think it’s a leap to make Chicharito the best option among the four for LAFC, both for on- and off-field reasons. In addition to his massive stardom in the United States, he’s the youngest and has been in good form since moving to Germany a little over a year ago.

It may be glib, but pundits have been calling time on Rooney’s effectiveness as a player for years, and another Liverpool native who came to play for a Los Angeles MLS team is now out the door following a largely unsuccessful stint in the league.

Fabregas is two years younger, but sneakily in a similar position to Rooney, with the distinction that Fabregas punctuates his periods of not-very-good play with occasional good moments.

And Modric is very interesting for on-field reasons. Aside from his Real Madrid connection, I don’t think he would really be a massive draw for the market by himself, but he’s been a fantastic player for a long time, and could be a tantalizing playmaker in a league where good playmakers put their teams a cut above the rest. He might be a terrific second or third Designated Player.

So those are my hot takes, do with them what you will. At the very least, the names are starting to trickle out of the club, and we’ll find out where they go from here in making a team for 2018 and beyond.

What do you think? Leave a comment below!