Sporting KC Moving Towards Deal with Ledesma?

Back in February, Robb Heineman made a trip to Europe to visit both Frankfurt and Milan. The big news out of that had been the chase for Hamburg midfielder Rafael van der Vaart and attempting to get him to come to KC. While that target appears that it has fallen through and won't happen, a lesser known name that came up at the same time has reemerged as a target for Sporting KC. Cristian Ledesma, an Argentine midfielder who holds Italian citizenship and has played once for the Italian national team.

The 32 year old is a midfielder who after growing up in the Boca Juniors youth system has spent his entire pro career in Italy playing for Lecce and Lazio, appearing 400 times in all competitions for the two teams, including over 300 for Lazio. This year though Ledesma has seen a drop in playing time, appearing only 12 times, starting seven of those for the Roman club.

He will be out of contract this summer, which is something that has been a big point for not just KC, but most MLS teams who are unlikely to want to pay a transfer fee for most players. According to the article, KC is very confident that a deal will be wrapped up soon for the midfielder.

Unlike prior target, van der Vaart, Ledesma plays a deeper role in the midfield, which makes a little more sense for KC with a very in form Benny Feilhaber playing extremely well in the attacking midfield position. With the talent in KC's midfield, Ledesma would likely be expected to come in and take Soni Mustivar's spot as a deep lying midfielder in KC's current 4-3-3 system.

If he comes this summer, it would fill a spot that KC fans have been hoping to address since the departure of Oriol Rosell, and while Mustivar has done a decent job there, upgrading shouldn't be out of the question. The earliest he'd be available would be July 8th when the secondary transfer window opens up for MLS. It's hopefully the first of a couple additions this summer, with the now open roster spot from the departure of Luis Marin, KC should also be looking to add a goalkeeper, and with Ike Opara on IR, his roster spot is open as well for KC to look at adding a center back that would be an upgrade over Kevin Ellis.