Transfer Watch: Impact eyeing Serie A vet Alessandro Matri?

Alessandro Matri - Juventus - Coppa Italia celebration

After finding plenty of joy with Marco Di Vaio, the Montreal Impact seem to have struck gold again in the Italian forward market with Matteo Mancosu. But they may not stop there.


According to a report from Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, the Impact could land Serie A veteran and Italian international Alessandro Matri, though not until next summer.


Per the report, Matri would sign a deal that would see him play the 2016-17 Serie A season with Bologna, then spend two years in Montreal. Impact investor-operator Joey Saputo is also the owner and president of Bologna.


Matri, who will turn 32 this month, is currently owned by Milan, but has spent the two-and-a-half seasons on loan with four other top-flight sides. His most successful professional spell came from 2007-2011 with Cagliari, where he scored 36 goals in 125 league appearances.


His form at Cagliari earned him a call-up to the Italian national team – he has a goal in seven caps – as well as a move to powerhouse club Juventus, where he spent two-and-a-half years and scored 27 goals in 69 games league games. He also featured for Juve in the 2012-13 Champions League campaign, where he scored two goals in a Round of 16 clash vs. Celtic. And though he did win three Serie A titles in the black-and-white uniform of the Old Lady, arguably his most memorable moment there may have come during a 2015 loan spell, when he scored the winning goal in extra time of the Coppa Italia final to help his team win the double.


In his most recent campaign, a year-long loan stint with Lazio for the 2015-16 season, Matri scored four goals in 17 league appearances plus three more across 10 appearances in cup and European play.