MONTREAL – Maybe Major League Soccer hasn’t seen the last of Matteo Ferrari after all.
One day after he was one of four players released by the Montreal Impact, Ferrari said that he’s eager to enjoy the game once again but that he’s unsure what the future will hold.
Ferrari – who will turn 35 years old next month – appeared in 81 games over three seasons with the Impact after much of his career was spent in Italy. He said Saturday that at least one team is interested in his services, but he’s not saying where.
“There is something… unfortunately I can’t tell you where,” Ferrari told reporters at a press conference in a Montreal hotel. “But yeah, there is something. I don't know. I want to think about it.”
Ferrari is expected to take part in the MLS Re-Entry Draft in December, when he’ll find out if any other MLS teams are interested in picking him up for next season.
The 2014 season was a struggle for almost every Impact player, and it certainly was for Ferrari. He said that as the team struggled for much of the summer, his motivation declined to the point where he would have considered a move away from Montreal – though his form did improve in the latter part of the season.
In fact, an MLS team that had qualified for the playoffs made an approach for his services in September, Ferrari revealed.
“I thought it was a moment for me to find new motivation, new experiences, and I felt my job in Montreal was done,” Ferrari told reporters. “I just felt the cycle was finished. When I had this opportunity, I went to the club, to the coach actually, and I asked to be traded. At that moment, the club told me that it was impossible, because I was too important for the team, even if the season was over.”
When asked for comment on the situation, a Montreal spokesperson explained that a playoff-level team did inquire for Ferrari’s services, but that the trade discussions never got to the point where Ferrari asked to be traded.
The approach came when Montreal had yet to qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals, the spokesperson added – they qualified on Sept. 24, when New York Red Bulls failed to win at El Salvador’s FAS. The MLS roster freeze date fell on Sept. 15.
Olivier Tremblay covers the Montreal Impact for MLSsoccer.com.
