McBride finally heading to MLS' Fire

TORONTO (Goal.com) -- Brian McBride is coming to Chicago. And Chad Barrett is heading north of the border.

On the heels of MLS commissioner Don Garber's announcement at halftime of the MLS All-Star Game that a deal had been struck between McBride and the league, a source within Toronto FC has confirmed to Goal.com USA that the Chicago Fire will send Barrett, a first-round SuperDraft selection and allocation money to Toronto in exchange for the former Fulham FC captain.

McBride, who played his entire MLS career with the Columbus Crew between 1996-2003, decided to leave Fulham earlier this summer in order to return to MLS. While the three-time World Cup participant for the U.S. national team made it known that his desired location to play was Chicago, Toronto FC held all the cards in the process, as the team at the top of the allocation list.

Several deals have been talked about over the last several weeks, with negotiations even reaching a stalemate at one point. Getting the first-round selection in the SuperDraft was apparently a sticking point with TFC in order to get the deal done, which finally came together during the All-Star festivities in Toronto.

Chicago will have to wait to see McBride in a Fire uniform as the 36-year-old is currently training with Peter Nowak's U.S. Olympic team in advance of traveling to Beijing for the start of the tournament in two weeks.

Toronto FC is getting a player in Barrett who led the Fire in scoring with five goals through the team's first 16 games. The 23-year-old striker, who is in his fourth season in MLS, will likely start up top alongside Danny Dicchio for John Carver's side since veteran goal-scorer Jeff Cunningham has fallen out of favor in recent weeks.

MLS is expected to make a formal announcement of this deal on Friday.

-- Goal.com USA