The Montreal Impact continue to stock their roster with local talent, announcing on Tuesday that they’ve signed Montreal-area native and Canadian Under-20 national team goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau to a Homegrown contract.
The 18-year-old becomes the youngest player to join the Impact roster. He took part in the preseason camp with the club as well as the postseason tour in Italy last November, playing all 90 minutes in the team's 4-1 win over Fiorentina's “Primavera” squad, while training with the first team on a regular basis.
Crépeau will serve as the Impact’s No. 3 goalkeeper behind starter Troy Perkins and backup Evan Bush. Brad Stuver, the 32nd overall pick of the 2013 MLS SuperDraft, has not been signed by the team.
"We are very proud to announce that Maxime has joined the team as our third ‘keeper," Impact sporting director Nick De Santis said in a statement. "He's shown over his time with us a maturity beyond his years and his performances at the international level have always been good. He has the potential to be a good player in MLS and he will be working with two solid goalkeepers that will help his development in all technical aspects as well as on how to become a true professional.”
At the international level, Crépeau most recently started all three games for the Canadian squad at the CONCACAF U-20 Championship in Mexico. He played his first game with the national team set-up at age 15.
Crépeau joined the Impact Academy in 2010 and played with the U-21 team over the last three seasons. He joins fellow Impact Academy products Karl W. Ouimette, Maxim Tissot and Wandrille Lefèvre on the first team. As per league policy, details of the agreement have not been disclosed.
