The Chicago Fire are headed into a brave new world as a club in the coming years. As one of the biggest cities in the United States, and a city with deep immigrant roots, Chicago is ready to boast a club that can compete with the likes of Miami, New York, and Los Angeles when it comes to bringing in world class talent. The signing of legendary Polish striker Robert Lewandowski in recent weeks showed that very ambition off the pitch, but on the pitch it may actually be a step backwards for the club and Major League Soccer.

“From the day Joe Mansueto and I met for the first time, we set out to build a world-class Club that inspires greatness, unites Chicago and wins championships,” said Chicago head coach Gregg Berhalter. “Robert embodies those values and represents the standards this city deserves: a champion and a competitor. His arrival reinforces our ambition to compete for trophies and raises the standards for the Club to heights worthy of this city. We cannot wait to get to work with him and have Chicago see first-hand why he is among the most revered sporting icons in the world.”

Lewandowski’s signing will generate major buzz in a city with a major Polish diaspora, and the seats at the club’s brand new stadium, McDonalds Park, set to open in 2028, will likely be full on a regular basis as a result. The Lewandowski number-nine jersey will sell like crazy and a club looking for a star-studded identity will finally have the recognizable face to plaster on the side of the stadium. But there is one name central to the story that the casual observer might be oblivious to: Hugo Cuypers.

The Belgian striker had been leading the line for the Fire this season, and doing so with aplomb. As MLS paused for the World Cup in late May, Cuypers had a league-leading 13 goals and was a key reason the Fire found themselves in the thick of the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference. When Lewandowski signed for the club, there was plenty of chatter regarding how the pair might fit together, because there is just no way you can push the league’s leading scorer out of your team… right? Wrong.

Reports emerged this week that Cuypers will be heading to Liga MX giants Monterrey for a fee said to be in the range of $7.5 million, despite Chicago signing the 29-year-old for a club record fee of $12 million just two years ago. That is $4.5 million loss for the MLS Golden Boot leader in the prime of his career. His replacement may have scored over 300 league goals throughout his prolific career in Europe, but he will be 38-years-old in one month and brings no promise of production for a team that was humming.

MLS has long held the tag of a ‘retirement league’ for aging superstars who can no longer keep up with the pace of top-level soccer abroad, though fans of the league have seen the validity of that tag dissipate in recent years. MLS really has become younger and a great place for burgeoning talent to develop before making the move to top leagues in Europe. No single decision a club has made in recent years will have done more damage to that image than Chicago discarding Hugo Cuypers like an unwanted pair of shoes they forgot they still owned.

If the league-leading goalscorer, your club record signing, still in his 20s, is not enough to be viewed as an untouchable focal point in your plans to, as Gregg Berhalter said, “compete for trophies and raise the standards for the club”, will anything ever be? You can hardly blame the Chicago fans who have reacted with revulsion to the reports that Cuypers is being shipped out.

As one fan said on social media, “This is a legitimately repulsive piece of business. I am at a loss for words for how bad this deal is, how stupid this entire situation is, and how disappointed I am that the club is risking blowing up a chance at a trophy to sell jerseys.”

Of course, Lewandowski may be a roaring success on the pitch. The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich man is considered a great of the modern era for a reason. Yet, seeing a club set fire to their perfect condition Lexus in the hopes that they can squeeze one more roadtrip out of their dad’s once-great Porsche can only make you feel like reaching the destination in the most efficient manner possible was never the actual aim.

Only time will tell us just what type of decision this was. It may turn out to be a stroke of genius as Robert Lewandowski leads the Fire to their first MLS Cup triumph since 1998 and cements himself as the pride of Polish-Americans in the city of Chicago. Or, like we see so often in MLS, we may get a full stadium of casual fans not worried about the direction of the team on the pitch as long as they get to see a once-great superstar do his best to prove Father Time has not caught up with him yet.