Following a stint in the Dutch Eredivisie with Heerenveen, midfielder Marco Pappa is officially back in MLS.
The league announced Wednesday it has signed the Guatemalan international and former Chicago Fire player, pending receipt of his visa and ITC, as well as successful completion of a physical.
Though the Fire recently expressed interest in bringing Pappa back to his former club, they do not hold his MLS player rights as a result of obtaining a transfer fee when he went to Heerenveen in August 2012.
As a result, Pappa will be assigned to a team through the allocation ranking (check out the latest ranking here), with the Seattle Sounders in pole position at the moment, and Toronto FC next in line if Seattle passes. Clubs have until Friday at 4 pm ET to select Pappa. If a club selects him, the team will drop to the bottom of the allocating ranking order.
Pappa, 26, spent part of two seasons in the Netherlands, but never settled with Heerenveen, making just 12 appearances. While with Chicago, he made 112 MLS regular season appearances from 2008-12, scoring 26 goals and registering 16 assists.
