The Montreal Impact's budget space is limited.
This, at least, is what Impact sporting director Nick De Santis hinted at when he spoke to local newspaper Le Journal de Montréal on Tuesday. The Impact scratched a number of six-figure contracts off the books, but picked up options on 15 players for the 2014 season, several of which were rather costly, De Santis had told MLSsoccer.com last month.
So the 2014 MLS SuperDraft, presented by adidas represents an opportunity for the Impact to add "cap-friendly players," as Montreal technical director Matt Jordan puts it.
With the MLS Player Combine under way, the Impact hold the 10th, 29th, 37th, 48th, and 67th picks in the draft, and in all likelihood will attempt to land immediate contributors. After all, with just 21 players in the senior team at this point, they need to fill out the roster.
“You always look at it with the hope of getting one or two pieces that can contribute to your team," Jordan told MLSsoccer.com by phone on Friday. "That’s the approach that we take as well.”
Then again, when it comes to cap-friendly deals, Homegrown players are becoming more and more of an option – Montreal have five themselves – which Jordan feels has impacted the draft pool and probably even removed at least one prospect from the Generation adidas equation.
“League-wide -- and most clubs agree -- the landscape of the draft is changing with the growth of our academies and the amount of Homegrown signings,” Jordan said. "If you look at a player like Harrison Shipp, this is a player who would very likely be a top 10 pick but who’s signed with Chicago. Jordan Allen has signed with Salt Lake, and he would probably be in the discussion for a [Generation adidas] deal."
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In 2013, Montreal added more Homegrowns (four) than they signed draft picks (two, including the now-departed Paolo DelPiccolo). It appears unlikely they will sign a similar number of Homegrowns in 2014, but Jordan sounds more enthusiastic about the value to be found in the upcoming SuperDraft.
“There’s a lot of good players and we feel that we’ve done a good job of doing all the necessary homework and work before we came here to have a very good feel for these players,” Jordan said.
