Gabriel Slonina is one of the biggest goalkeeping prospects in the world, former USMNT legend Tony Meola compared him to Gianluigi Buffon in a recent podcast. To many observers, Slonina has the skills to be a major goalkeeper in the future and is currently perfecting his craft for basement dwellers Chicago Fire of MLS.
Slonina made his professional debut in 2021 keeping an impressive 4 clean sheets in 11 games for the 18-year-old. This season Slonina has been the shining light on an otherwise dismal Fire side that sit bottom of the MLS standings.
Slonina has played 20 games and has 8 shutouts with 42 saves. The Fire goalkeeper had interest from Real Madrid, but it seems like the Spanish giants did not reach the desired transfer fee. Here are the terms of Slonina’s transfer to Chelsea.
Gabriel Slonina to Chelsea terms
According to Fabrizio Romano the terms of the transfer are as follows: Chelsea would pay MLS/ Chicago Fire $10 million for Slonina’s services. Slonina’s agent has informed the Chicago Fire that the player and Chelsea have reached personnel terms and Chelsea will now send their formal bid.
It is reported that the Fire and Chelsea have already agreed verbally to the transfer, and it will make Slonina the latest American transferred to a major team in Europe. Nonetheless fans in MLS will still get a chance to see Slonina as he will be loaned back to the Fire but for how long remains to be seen.
Slonina had interest from Juventus, Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Bayern Munich, but in the end, Chelsea was willing to pay the desired $10 million transfer.