How close is Andres Guardado to joining Atlanta United FC? According to ESPN Deportes' John Sutcliffe, it may just be a signature away.

Guardado, via a report from Sutcliffe, has been offered a $6 million a year contract by the club to become their first designated player. This is the third report by Sutcliffe linking Guardado to AUFC, each time adding a new bit of information. He initially reported that the two sides were interested a few weeks back while in Atlanta taking a tour of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium construction site, and reiterated the report just yesterday on Futbol Picante and the Spanish language edition of SportsCenter. It appears that the numbers behind the story are clear now, and we have our most definitive information yet regarding the midfielder's possible move to AUFC and MLS.

Here's Sutcliffe's report translated from Spanish to English:

Another player that will land in MLS is Andres Guardado. They have told me the newest team in MLS, that will start in March 2017, Atlanta (United) FC, has placed an important offer on Andres Guardado's table to play in the US, an offer of $6 million per year. It wouldn't surprise me at all that the one called "principito," Andres Guardado, be the next to come to MLS.

Guardado's reasons to come to the United States look to boil down in part to money. Here in the States, he can make much more than he is making playing domestically in Europe. It was considered a possibility that Guardado and his agents were attempting to drive his value up and force the hand of his current club, PSV Eindhoven, but $6 million a year could be a lot of money for them to come up with.

If Guardado signs the contract, it would tie him with New York City FC's Frank Lampard, Toronto FC's Michael Bradley and LA Galaxy's Steven Gerrard for the second-highest base salary in MLS.