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Perhaps the most intriguing rumor this offseason was that the Seattle Sounders offered Boca Juniors $14 million for Dario Benedetto. That would have been a MLS record transfer fee and seemed to suggest the Sounders were ready to open their checkbooks quite unlike they ever have before.
Almost immediately after that news dropped, I started hearing from various places that the report was inaccurate. Nothing I could report, but enough signs that I was skeptical Sounders made the bid. Either way, Benedetto said he wanted to remain with Boca Juniors and it was rather inconsequential.
Leave it to Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson to give that rumor its deathblow, anyway.
@StumptownFooty happens all the time...repors were Seattle made big offer for Benedetto when it was really another MLS team earlier
— Merritt Paulson (@MerrittPaulson) January 25, 2017
Who that other team was remains a mystery — although the smart money is probably on the LA Galaxy, who apparently have Benedetto’s Discovery Rights — but that any MLS team was willing to pay that kind of money is pretty wild.
If anyone is worth it, though, Benedetto might be. The 26-year-old already has seven goals in fewer than 600 minutes with Boca Juniors this year and he just finished a four-year run in Liga MX in which he scored 38 goals in fewer than 6,000 minutes.
The Sounders have shown a willingness to spend reasonably large sums on transfers in the past — and signs point to their willingness to do it in the future — but that kind of fee probably is beyond their budget right now.