The Montreal Impact could be on their way to landing a big signing – it just looks like he won’t play for the club until 2017.
Argentine club Rosario Central announced on their official website that Montreal have come to an agreement with striker Marcelo Larrondo and are set to buy him out of his contract. Reports out of Argentina indicate that the Impact will loan Larrondo to another team for the remainder of 2016, with the 27-year-old scheduled to join Montreal ahead of the 2017 MLS season.
The whole deal has caused a bit of an uproar for Rosario Central. The club are upset about not being able to complete an attempted contract renegotiation with Larrondo and their supporters are angry about the possibility of Larrondo being loaned to Argentine giants River Plate, who have said they are interested in acquiring their former youth player.
FutbolMLS.com threw a bit of cold water on the River Plate rumors on Wednesday, when they reported that it’s likely that Larrondo would instead go on loan to Serie A club Bologna. Montreal Impact owner/president Joey Saputo serves as chairman of Bologna.
Larrondo moved to Rosario Central last July and racked up 10 goals in 16 league games with the club before going down with a knee injury in March. He spent the bulk of his career in Italy, where he spent time with Siena, Fiorentina and Torino. He returned to his native Argentina in January 2015, when Torino loaned him to Club Atletico Tigre. Prior to his stint with Rosario Central, Larrondo’s most successful season was the 2010-11 campaign, when he scored six goals in 27 appearances for Siena in Serie B.
Born in Argentina to a Chilean father and Argentine mother, Larrondo was included on Chile’s preliminary roster for this summer’s Copa America Centenario but did not make the final cut for the tournament.
Signing Larrondo would give Montreal some firepower up top in 2017 regardless of what 38-year-old striker Didier Drogba, whose contract is set to expire following this season, decides to do this winter.
