CHICAGO—Before signing as a Homegrown Player in January and making his MLS debut this season, Djordje Mihailovic had been hanging around the Chicago Fire for a while. The Lemont, Illinois native, son of a former NASL pro, joined the Fire academy in 2013 and gradually began training with the first team as well.
That’s when Mike Magee remembers first meeting Mihailovic.
“I started training with him, I think a little bit in 2013 -- he was probably 9 years old,” joked Magee, a former MLS MVP for Chicago and the current MLS Homegrown Team coach.