Seattle Sounders owner and general manager Adrian Hanauer confirmed on Thursday that the loan deal that will send star forward Fredy Montero to Colombian side Millonarios is almost complete and that it should be finalized in the near future.
“We are finalizing the loan of Fredy Montero to Millonarios of Colombia for the 2013 MLS season," Hanauer said in a statement. "We hope to have this transaction completed in the next few days. Fredy has been a tremendous part of our success the last four years and this decision was not taken lightly. This was a process that Fredy and the Sounders cooperated on, and our hope is that it works out successfully for both parties.”
Hanauer's statement comes one day after Montero tweeted out an apparent farewell to Sounders fans on his Twitter account. The 25-year-old striker is the leading scorer in franchise history across all competitions, but he came under fire in 2012 when, despite a career-high 13 goals during the regular season, he failed to score during a Sounders' postseason run that ended in the Western Conference Championship.
Montero, who has scored 47 goals in 119 regular-season games since coming to Seattle on loan from Deportivo Cali before the Sounders' expansion season in 2009, has never scored a goal in 10 postseason games and was pulled well before the final whistle in both of the Sounders' matches against the LA Galaxy in the conference finals.
Montero has been linked to the Millonarios loan for roughly a week, with reports indicating that the Colombian side will agree to a six-month deal and an option to buy Montero's rights. Terms of the deal have not been confirmed by the Sounders, but reports have indicated the striker would cost Millonarios $4.5 million should they choose to make the buy, the highest transfer fee for an incoming player in Colombian football history.
