I’ve written about Brandt Bronico before— and my apologizes for the photo mishap and labeling him a “rookie” in that article— but I’d like to bring him up once more.

With the Fire losing out on a slate of attacking players— Juan Quintero, Lee Nguyen, Fernando Torres, et al— the Fire has been looking far and wide for a creative midfielder. At press time, they still haven’t found one— they’ve probably ran out of data to load up YouTube.

Dare I say it though; the Fire does have a creative force out in the midfield. They don’t need to go scout out the 5th division of the North Pole League when they have Bronico. In the twelve league appearances he’s had this season, the 23-year-old has had four assists and one goal. That may not seem impressive at first glance, but combine that with his work rate out in the pitch and you’ll see has become a staple in the midfield alongside Dax McCarty and Bastian Schweinsteiger.

The only thing that Bronico needs to work a litter better on is his finishing. But you could say that about almost everyone else in the team right now.

Lastly, let’s take a look at Bronico’s goal against FC Dallas on Saturday night.

In the 86th minute Bronico gathered up the ball after a terrible attempt at recovery from a Dallas Burn player. With a cool composed attitude, he was able to slot it in to the back of the net to give the Fire some consolidation that night. All that #grindset finally payed off.

If Bronico continues his path, there is no doubt that he will become a much more creative force out in the pitch. The mystical unicorn in the middle the Fire needs is already here.