Terens | Xherdan Shaqiri makes clear he came to Chicago to win

Today was a historic day for the Chicago Fire FC as the Club formally introduced the Club’s new Designated Player, Xherdan Shaqiri, to the media.

Shaqiri was joined by Sporting Director Georg Heitz and Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson at the press conference at The Blackstone, Autograph Collection hotel.

The turnout for the event was strong, and the buzz generated by the official announcement last week has not wavered. I imagine it will continue until kickoff of this weekend’s 2022 season opener on Saturday when the Fire take on Inter Miami at 5 p.m. CT on WGN and CFFC Live.

There were a couple of different themes throughout the press conference that stood out to me. The first was the quality and experience that Xherdan brings to the Fire, given where he has been in Europe and what he has won. The second was how important winning and the team is to “Shaq.”

“My main goal is to be successful and bring this Club back to glory.”

It is clear that Xherdan has no intention of changing his winning ways while at the Fire. Even when asked about his own personal goals, he put the team first.

“Of course, I have my own goals, but the team goals are first.”

You could tell from his demeanor throughout the entire event that - while light-hearted and a fun-loving guy by nature - he is here for a job: to accomplish something special with this Club.

The one other interesting quote came from Hendrickson when asked about what Shaq brings to the Club…

“From the minute he came to training, you could see it raised the level of the other players. In his first day of training, we probably had our best session of the entire preseason, and that's just from him being on the pitch and doing some things that sparks everyone on."

The fact that Shaqiri’s presence in training alone is elevating everyone else’s game is so encouraging. Just imagine what it will look like for 90 minutes in a regular season game.

Even during the final friendly of preseason against Austin FC this past weekend, despite the fact he didn’t play, it was by far the best performance of the five weeks of preseason from CFFC. Shaqiri has brought a renewed sense of energy and life to the Club without having played a single minute yet.

It's a good thing the season opener is only five days away, because I simply can’t wait any longer to see this man pull on the kit for the first time and bring his Swiss magic to the Fire.

VAMOS!