Sporting KC close to deal with Jordi Quintilla

Late last week there was a report that Spanish player Jordi Quintillà was being looked at by Sporting Kansas City and it was noticed that he had started following Sporting KC players on twitter. The word at that time was that there was interest but nothing done or imminent.

Quintillà is 21 years old and joined the famous La Masia (Barcelona's academy) in 2009 and was later promoted to the Barcelona B team in 2012. Quintillà trialed with Sporting KC earlier this year.

After training Monday, assistant coach Kerry Zavagnin gave some insight into the latest info on Quintillà.

"Jordi is a guy that we have known for a couple years now through going to Barcelona and he obviously was a team mate of Uri's (Rosell) and a guy that we have tracked for the last couple years. We had the luxury and the privilege of having him in on trial and he had shown very, very well that he would be able to integrate himself into the group," Zavagnin explained.

"We have gone through talks and proceedings that would potentially lead to him joining our team in this summer window," Zavagnin continued. "I would like to say both sides have pretty much agreed on what those conditions would be and now it's just a matter of crossing the T's, dotting the I's and getting the job done but we want him here and I know that he wants to be here."

Sounds like Sporting KC fans may see a new midfielder in the next couple weeks if everything works out. The question is, what would he bring to SKC ?

"His foundation, his education of coming through a club like Barcelona as you saw with a player like Rosell, he would technically be an exceptional player above and beyond what you would normally get from a 21 year-old," Zavagnin stated.  "He also had the experience of leaving that great club and going into the French second division and I think he had to work a little bit hard. Obviously the team he went to in France didn't have the ball as much as he had in Barcelona so I think he learned to roll up his sleeves and really work on the defensive side of the ball. We are excited at the possibility that what he would bring us in midfield is the ability to possess the ball a little bit more. I think he has a little bit more going forward than what you saw from the midfield with Rosell."

"He is a left footed attacking player which as you know from our style of play, we like to make our midfielders, particularly the number 8 and the number 10 position as much a two way players as we can. You saw that with the evolution of Benny Feilhaber and we would like to do the same with a guy like Jordi. We think this is a capable player that is going to be able to adapt because he has a fantastic mentality," Zavagnin added.

A deal with Quintillà could be announced anytime or still fall through but at least it sounds closer than any of the other rumors this summer.