Chicago Fire head coach: Hungarian player brings class and “highest expectations” to Chicago Fire

According to Chicago Fire’s Offical page, With the signing of Hungarian international forward and Designated Player Nemanja Nikolic now official, Chicago Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic has secured the man he was after to lead his club’s line in 2017.

The former Legia Warsaw man — who delivered 41 league goals in 56 appearances over two seasons — will arrive in Chicago from the Polish capital as someone whose skills Paunovic has been familiar with for quite some time.

“We know Nikolic from a long time ago,” Paunovic said, “because he started his early career in Serbia and then he moved to Hungary. He was always followed by (Serbia’s) national team, but finally, as he has roots in Hungarian regions, he decided to play for Hungary. Anyway, he was a player that we always followed.”

The Chicago Fire offical page said, Nikolic’s gaudy goal-scoring numbers speak for themselves, a testament to the intelligent runs and clinical finishing that have made him a regular for his national team, for which he twice appeared at UEFA EURO 2016. But what’s also been key for Paunovic in his pursuit of the soon-to-be 29-year-old (his birthday is on Dec. 31) is a desire to be a team contributor that matches his desire to find net.

“His quality is scoring goals and assisting, but then he’s a man that can participate in both phases of team play,” Paunovic said. “He’s very good in all phases of the game. Defensively, he helps the team to recover the ball as soon as possible in order that we can control the game and create opportunities for our team to win. Sometimes he will benefit from team play and he will be just the executor, but sometimes he’s capable of creating his own situations in the game, the opportunities 1v1, and scoring his own goals.”