The Chicago Fire made a roster move to shore up their goalkeeping ranks Tuesday, signing 23-year-old Alec Dufty to a contract. Per league policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“He’s a good young keeper,” Fire technical director Frank Klopas told MLSsoccer.com. “He’s very confident for his age. He’s got great size and he’s got very good upside and obviously this move provides some stability for us at goalkeeper.”
Dufty will begin the season behind starting keeper Sean Johnson and second string ‘keeper Jon Conway. The 6-foot-5 keeper trained with Chicago in the latter part of last season – even appearing on the bench in three games – before rejoining the club at the start of preseason.
“We brought him in last year, so we’re very comfortable with him,” Klopas said. “We felt very good about him and we had kept an eye on him, and bringing him into camp and seeing him train with us and with the first team made this decision that much easier.”
“We didn’t want three keepers on the senior roster,” Klopas added. “So it’s nice that his age makes him eligible for a [off-budget roster] spot.”
Sam Stejskal covers the Chicago Fire for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at sam.h.stejskal@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @samstejskal.
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