It was nearly a done deal back in the spring, then it was ruled dead in the water, and then it turned out the deal still had life just over a week ago. The saga between Toronto FC and Maximiliano Urruti seemed to finally be inching towards a happy conclusion with the club closing in on adding the player but now there are reports that TFC are not the only club with their eyes on the Newell's Old Boys forward.

A number of different reports have come out over the past week linking Urruti to other clubs around the World. It seems that interest in the forward is quite high with clubs in Spain, Italy, and Mexico reported to be targeting him. According to this report he is one of a number of Newell's players that are drawing interest but there are no concrete offers made yet for Urriti despite that interest.

Here is the key part of that report in Spanish:

Maximiliano Urruti es otro futbolista que siempre entra en escena en época de pases. Que de España, que de Italia o México hay interés concreto, pero desde la sede del club insisten que por el momento no hubo un pedido oficial por el atacante. Igualmente, la dirigencia piensa en la Copa y en seguir avanzando para ir en busca de ser el mejor de América, aunque se espera con atención el arribo de alguna oferta seductora por algún jugador.

The most concrete interest in the player seems to be coming out of Mexico where Pumas UNAM seem to be lining up an offer for Urruti along with several other targets. Their interest was reported by a number of outlets earlier this week following their coach, Atonio Torres Servin, offering praise of a number of players.

The club's coach was quoted as saying (this time google translated) when speaking about targets Urruti and Martin Cauteruccio

"Those forwards are very good players, very good forwards, one has just been champion with his team Newell's and other goals in Quilmes made".

While the interest in Urruti continues to grow he continues to play for Newell's. The club played the first leg of their Copa Libertadores semifinal against Atletico Mineiro which they won 2-0 closing in on a place in the finals. The man who has kept Urruti on the bench so much, Ignacio Scocco, scored the second goal of the game before being replaced by Urruti in stoppage time.

Newell's barely avoided relegation in the league this past season while competing in the Copa Lib but they do have a strong team with the likes of Maxi Rodriguez and Gabriel Heinze on the roster. Urruti has been used almost exclusively as a substitute over the past year so with so much interest in the 22-year-old Argentine the time seems right for the club to sell him.

Hopefully, Toronto's prolonged interest in the player will keep them in the drivers seat to land his signature but if the interest from other clubs is genuine that might raise the asking price a fair bit. The MLS summer transfer window is about open up on July 9th so if Toronto are serious about signing Urruti there will hopefully be developments in the coming days.

There was a lot of talking about Urruti in the spring that led to nothing other than fans having their hopes dashed after a deal could not be completed. There is every chance that will happen again this time around since the problem in the spring seemed to be Newell's unwillingness to complete the deal. If offers start to come in from a number of clubs TFC will have their hands full trying to get the deal done and will almost certainly have to offer a a fair chunk of change for the player.

With Toronto also reportedly interested in Diego Forlan it could be interesting to see just what their attack might look like by the end of the month. If they do somehow manage to land both Forlan and Urruti the question will be what it means for the other attacking pieces and just how would they manage to make two major signings without going over the salary cap.