The Chicago Fire signed their second Designated Player on Tuesday afternoon, announcing their acquisition of 28-year-old Hungarian international striker Nemanja Nikolic from Polish club Legia Warsaw.
A Fire spokesperson confirmed that the club beat out English Premier League club Hull City and several Chinese Super League teams to sign Nikolic.
Nikolic, who will turn 29 on Dec. 31, joins the Fire after a hugely successful year and a half with Legia Warsaw. Nikolic scored 41 goals in 58 league matches with Warsaw, helping the club to the 2015-16 Polish top flight title and winning the league’s golden boot and player of the year honors.
He featured regularly for the club in European competition, recording a pair of goals in 10 UEFA Europa League appearances last season and scoring six times in 11 Champions League contests this year. His final Champions League goal came just last month, when he scored in Warsaw’s 8-4 defeat to German giants Borussia Dortmund.
In total, Nikolic recorded 55 goals and 11 assists in 86 matches across all competitions since moving to Warsaw in June 2015.
A member of Hungary’s squad at UEFA Euro 2016, Nikolic has three goals in 23 career appearances with the Hungarian national team. He appeared twice in the country’s run to the Euro Round of 16 and started their World Cup qualifying win against Latvia on Oct. 10.
Prior to joining Warsaw, Nikolic spent five years with Hungarian club Videoton, scoring 87 goals in 149 appearances, twice finishing as top scorer in the Hungarian league and winning two league titles with the club. He and current Fire midfielder Arturo Alvarez spent two years as teammates at Videoton. Nikolic becomes the second DP on the Fire’s roster, joining Ghanaian winger David Accam
