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There's been little to report as to Bakary Soumare's future since making public his trade request in early March, but a Tweet from a Chicago based reporter shed some light on what has transpired since.
However, new news emerged that the 27 year-old may be returning to a familiar team in the near future. Guillermo Rivera of chicagonow.com reported last week, in a Tweet overlooked by Philly media, that the Union had reached out to the Chicago Fire in regard to a trade involving the disgruntled center back.
From Wed's post "Philadelphia has approached Chicago re: a trade for Bakary Soumare but the Union's asking price is too rich at the moment
Rivera went on to say the following in the post that the Tweet referenced:
The club is also continuing to pursue defensive depth from within MLS. Philadelphia has approached Chicago regarding a trade for Bakary Soumare but the Union's asking price is apparently too rich at the moment. Soumare is not playing and not even dressing for Philadelphia so any MLS club looking to make a deal would be wise to wait them out. Until then, Mila is a possibility that can be filed in the "maybe" folder.
It's no shock that the asking price on Soumare is high in Philadelphia's mind. The Union, according to Ives Galarcep, gave up between $100,000 to $125,000 in allocation money, as well as their first round pick, in order to move up in the MLS Allocation Order to acquire him in late June of 2012. The Malian international played just one game with Philadelphia last year before undergoing knee surgery that sidelined him for the rest of the season.
He traveled with Philadelphia down to Florida for 2013 pre-season training, and played in three of six matches. With the departure of Carlos Valdes on loan to Santa Fe of Colombia, it seemed as though Soumare would slide into one of the two starting center back roles, but head coach John Hackworth opted for Amobi Okugo and Jeff Parke instead. The fallout from that led to Soumare asking for a trade.
Soumare was drafted by Chicago in the 2007 and spent two seasons there before joining French club US Boulonge on a four year deal in 2009. He later went on loan to Karlsruher SC.