Reports: Tranquillo Barnetta to the Union back on

With the departure of Sheanon Williams, one has to believe that the Union are going to be making some moves in the summer transfer window. One of those moves could very well be the acquisition of ex-Schalke 04 winger Tranquillo Barnetta - who has been previously linked to the Union. According to Taylor Twellman, Barnetta will be with the Union this week and even indicating the Union could sign the Swiss international soon.

Hearing Tranquillo Barnetta will be training with @PhilaUnion today/this week to assess "his options" as he has 2 European and @MLS. #Good1

— Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) July 23, 2015

This coincides with an interview he conducted with the Swiss daily Blick.ch where he said he turned down a CHF350,000 (USD $380,000) deal with Bundesliga side Augsburg and shunned his hometown club St. Gallen because he wanted to play abroad. The report links him with the Union, Leicester City in England's Premier League, and Real Betis in Spain's La Liga - that's right, the Union are challenging teams in top European leagues for a signing.

Barnetta would be an upgrade on the left wing over Andrew Wenger, who has been having an off year. It's also worthy of note that Barnetta is a right-footed left winger, so it's conceivable that he could also play on the right wing instead of Sebastien Le Toux.

The main stumbling block will probably be the lack of an international slot. It's not known at this time exactly how many of their seven remaining slots the Union have occupied.

As it stands, I believe their internationals are as follows: Fabinho, Aristeguieta, Ayuk, Maidana, Nogueira, Mbolhi, Vitoria

— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) July 23, 2015

They'll need to either move one of these players or acquire an international slot somehow before bringing in Barnetta.

Update: Tranquillo Barnetta is at Union training today.

Tranquillo Barnetta is indeed here at Union training. pic.twitter.com/nlywDKLGHZ

— Kevin Kinkead (@KevinKCBS3) July 24, 2015