MONTREAL – The questions surrounding Bernardo Corradi’s future have been answered.
The Montreal Impact announced on Thursday that they had come to a verbal agreement with Corradi, who will now stay until the end of the 2012 season. It appears Corradi will put his signature at the bottom of a new contract after his brother comes from Italy to double-check the agreement.
The arrangement came about earlier this week, when the Italian striker had a chat with Impact president Joey Saputo and sporting director Nick De Santis. Having already had a discussion with head coach Jesse Marsch about extending his association with the club, Corradi came into the meeting settled on the soccer side of things. Having also managed his family situation – the player's wife, who still works in Italy, will now make slightly longer trips to Montreal with their young son – Corradi knew that all that was missing was a formal discussion and a handshake.
“My wish was always the same: it was to stay here,” Corradi told reporters after training on Thursday. “After that 50-minute chat in Joey's office, I walked out with a smile on my face.”
Marsch now has the possibility of re-creating the Corradi-Marco Di Vaio front line, which was an occasional sight at Valencia’s Mestalla stadium back in 2004-05. The Montreal boss was thrilled with the news, as he feels Corradi is one of the greatest assets he can rely on.
“On the field, he brings an intelligence, an awareness, a savvyness around the goal, a confidence," Marsch said. "He’s good in the air, he slows the game down for us. His experience and his qualities make us better. He’s different from other pieces we have. You look at some of our attacking players, and I'm lucky, as a coach, to have a lot of different talents to pick from.”
Incidentally, Corradi does admit the prospect of playing with Di Vaio made the decision to stay with the Impact easier.
“Marco is one of my best friends, so I was happy that he signed for this club,” Corradi said. “We were chatting on the phone for two months. He asked me everything about the club, the atmosphere. I think he's lucky, because he will be able to play in the new stadium, so he’s going to live the best part of the season.”
