A rumor has emerged in the Russian press in recent days that FC Krasnodar is trying to bring in Los Angeles Football Club forward Diego Rossi.

Russian outlet Championat reported on Sunday that Krasnodar are in negotiations with LAFC for Rossi, who has 12 goals across all competitions this season (23 appearances). In league play, his 11 goals are second in MLS only to teammate Carlos Vela’s 19 right now. Last season, Rossi was LAFC’s leading scorer across all competitions, 17 goals in 37 games.

The 21-year-old Uruguayan is regarded as one of the great young talents in MLS, and speculated to be not long for LAFC, given his pedigree and skill everywhere he’s played so far.

Krasnodar finished the last Russian Premier League season in 3rd place, and have been consistently strong, if not competing for the league title, for several seasons. The club is just over a decade old, and one former MLS player, Yura Movsisyan, played there for a time.

Speaking of Movsisyan, an Armenian international who grew up in Southern California, here’s an interesting link: Krasnodar’s owner, Sergey Galitsky, is Armenian-Russian, and Rossi is of Armenian descent through his mother. Movsisyan previously discussed Galitsky working hard to bring him to the club because of their shared Armenian ties, and perhaps there is a connection for Rossi as well.

Of course, if there is any truth to this report, the question is how much Krasnodar would be willing to spend and how much LAFC would accept to sell him. Rossi is unquestionably LAFC’s best transfer asset right now, and much like Atlanta United with Miguel Almiron’s sale to Newcastle United, the LAFC brain trust may want to hit a benchmark as a statement of intent for the team in the global market moving forward.

Could Rossi be on his way out this transfer window? It’s certainly possible but we’ll have to see in the coming days if this story takes off or not. We reached out to an LAFC spokesperson on this report but haven’t heard back yet. We’ll keep you posted if there are developments here.

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