According to Pasion Morada, a Saprissa ultras/fan website, that spoke to Jairo Arrieta's agent; Jairo Arrieta had an offer from the Columbus Crew that was rejected by Saprissa.

The striker Jairo continue in the ranks of Deportivo Saprissa next season after the dwelling leadership not to accept the offer of the Columbus Crew of MLS. Jose Luis Rodriguez, agent of the attacker, as well as Mario Segura confirmed that failed to reach an agreement with the purple, so Arrieta will stay until Summer 2012. "No agreement was reached after two times I met for transferring Arrieta to Columbus but still have the option of consolidating all in June," said Rodriguez. In addition, because Saprissa has no players for this tournament is not going to allow another player to leave the ranks.

The 28-year-old Arrieta has been with Saprissa since 2006, scoring in over one-third of his appearances with 22 goals in 61 games for the purple club.

With Vargas and Arrieta both suiting up for Saprissa when Columbus faced off against the Costa Rican club in the 2009 edition of the Concacaf Champions League, it appears that Brian Bliss and company have kept tabs on the two strikers and have decided to dial up Costa Rica on a second occasion.

At 5'8 the speedy, crafty Arrieta can work off of Vargas who at 6'2 can hold a ball up until Arrieta or Renteria, Mirosevic, Duka, and company can join into the attack.

I would not take this article as a conclusion of business in January with Arrieta and Saprissa, apparently from the article Columbus made a second offer, what's stopping Columbus from making a third if they think Arrieta can help?

Arrieta's contract is up in June 2012 and he would be free to join Columbus then, but nice to see that the Crew are not content (such as in the past in waiting) and wants to get their pieces in place now.

If the Crew top brass believes Arrieta, who has been solid as of late for Saprissa, would be a nice piece to the puzzle I hope they keep trying.

Here's Arrieta talking about possibly joining the Crew:


This article from yesterday appears to say that if Arrieta can't get to Columbus in January, he will join the Crew in June on a free contract to partner up with Olman Vargas:

"It would be in Columbus, he is very good for the MLS ... we are trying to close the option of signing a preliminary contract, but there we are, the goal is to bring him right now to Columbus to be co-Olman in the front, we hope to finalize this transfer in the coming months," concluded the agent.

Arrieta seems like another positive addition from these videos: