The Fire’s months long courtship of attacking midfielder Juan Quintero appears to be coming to a conclusion shortly. Sources tell The Athletic the Fire and FC Porto have agreed to terms in principle for a transfer of the 24-year old Colombian. The transfer fee amount has been the hold up for several weeks.

The Fire and Quintero met in Chicago in late December and came to an agreement on personal terms shortly thereafter. All that remained was completing the transfer fee with FC Porto, which had been rumoured to have placed a $12 million price tag on him.

Finalizing the transfer and financial paperwork appears to be the remaining hurdle towards completing the deal.

UPDATE: After this story was published Thursday morning, numerous reports out of South America surfaced contending that River Plate has continued to pursue Quintero. A revised bid from the Argentine club today has given Porto an alternate to the Fire’s bid and it is yet unclear which has been accepted.

Sources indicate that MLS has yet to hear an official response from FC Porto at this time but indications were positive earlier today. General manager Nelson Rodriguez declined to comment on any potential Quintero signing during a media conference call Thursday morning.

River Plate, coached by former MLS midfielder Marcelo Gallardo, became involved over the last two weeks and stands a good chance to land Quintero if Porto chooses not to accept the latest Fire offer. It’s also possible that Quintero prefers River Plate’s latest bid to playing in the United States with an eye toward reclaiming a spot on Colombia’s World Cup roster.

Resolution of the matter may have to wait until the Quintero camp decides to make their final decision public.

UPDATE, Jan. 19: While two sources indicated that the Fire and FC Porto had agreed on transfer fee terms, one source misread the Fire anticipating a response from Porto as awaiting finalization of the contractual terms. With River Plate now involved in submitting a revised offer over the last several days, Porto apparently had options and had not agreed to an MLS sale. With negotiations and transfer discussions being fluid, both sources provided what they believed to be correct information but were premature in calling the negotiations “done’.

Various reports out of South America now have Porto and Quintero agreeing to a move to River Plate. While nothing has been officially announced by any of the parties directly involved, indications are that those reports are accurate.

(Top photo: Tim Heitman/USA TODAY Sports)