Just before we all went to bed Thursday night, we had thoughts of Dario Benedetto joining the Sounders prior to the 2017 season. We, okay I, started drooling at the possible attacking prowess the Sounders would have with Benedetto, Nicolas Loderio, Jordan Morris and possibly Clint Dempsey.

Sadly, it appears that those dreams need to be put on hold. After Juan G. Arango tweeted hearing it was two MLS teams in the running for Benedetto, LA Galaxy and Seattle, César Luis Merlo put those rumors to bed.

Darío Benedetto decidió quedarse en #Boca al menos hasta junio. Se rechazó una oferta de la MLS de u$s 10M limpios. pic.twitter.com/QvbMdopGkJ — César Luis Merlo (@CLMerlo) December 23, 2016

Benedetto apparently decided it was in his best interest to stay at Boca for the time being. Original reports were that an MLS team put in a bid of $14 million for the services of Benedetto. The tweet implies it was closer to $10 million. Regardless of what the actual amount turned out to be, it’s a lot of money and a potentially game changing player.

In the end, it’s probably better that Benedetto stays at Boca at least until June. We still don’t know what Dempsey’s situation is regarding his irregular heartbeat. There are hopes that he will be able to play in 2017 but there are no guarantees.

I’m sure that Garth Lagerwey doesn’t want to enter the 2017 shorthanded like he was entering 2016. That may require a short-term fix, though, until the summer window.