The Chicago Fire have completed their first signing of what has been, up to now at least, a pretty turbulent offseason. St. Etienne and Slovenian international striker, Robert Beric.

Who is this striker? Let’s take a look.

Career Stats

Appearances: 376

Goals: 130

Assists: 44

It seems we have a pretty talented striker on our hands. A goal contribution every 142 minutes is nothing to scoff at. It has, however, been a slow season for him so far, bagging only 2 goals in 21 appearances across all competitions. From watching just a few snippets one can clearly see that this guy loves to head the ball. His career has been filled with goal after goal after goal all scored via the head. In fact, his one goal in Ligue 1 this season was a header.

That being said, the Fire will need to bring in some quality crossers in order to fully utilize Beric’s skill. He’s a great finisher, and if you can get the ball to him in the box, he will usually find a way to knock it in. Somehow. A lot of his goals involve him throwing his body at the ball and hoping it finds its way into the back of the net. This ability does make him a huge threat to opponents on set pieces, something that has been missing for the Fire for quite some time now.

The thing about that to note is that Beric is pretty much a “tap in” striker, a pretty good one, but a tap in striker nonetheless.

From watching him, one can’t really see any sign of him creating anything for himself or his teammates for that matter.

His passing is lackluster, to say the least. This season he has only managed an average of .2 key passes a game and a mere 67% pass completion. His sub-par passing is the reason why he often opts to hold the ball, slowing his run until he can make a short pass rather than playing a risky long ball, which could slow up play if we’re ever looking to counter.

He’s a feisty player. He is very determined to win the ball back immediately after losing it usually by trying a rash tackle, usually resulting in a foul too, having racked up a lot of yellow cards for a striker. He has also suffered his fair share of fouls, leaving him injured on a couple of occasions. Most notable was the rupturing of his cruciate ligament which left him sidelined for a total of 6 months, missing almost a full season’s worth of games.

Beric has a lot to prove. He is exactly the type of player that has failed in MLS in the past. But if he can stay fit, he will be a great signing. He should be a very entertaining player to watch due to his aggression and determination.

From what we can gather, the next move for the Fire is to bring in guys that will swing balls into the box so that Beric can throw his body at them, and then maybe we might see more of them end up in the net.

Featured Image: Chicago Fire