MONTREAL – It appears that the Montreal Impact are still able to sign Designated Players – plural.
Multiple outlets reported this week that Belgian defender Laurent Ciman would become Montreal’s second DP, but club technical director Adam Braz had other ideas – involving allocation money with his Thursday signing.
“He’s made a lot of sacrifices to come here, and the fact that he’s coming here for three years and that we’re using some allocation money [allows us to sign him as a non-DP],” Braz told Le Journal de Montréal on Thursday.
Ciman was still in Belgium when Montreal’s preseason training kicked off Friday morning – he will play his last game for Standard de Liège in the derby against Anderlecht on Sunday. Nevertheless, as head coach Frank Klopas spoke to the media after practice, Ciman’s signing came up , as did the team’s vacant DP spots.
And Klopas said Montreal aren’t quite done tweaking their roster.
With a CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal matchup looming, one more forward – DP or not – remains on Klopas’ shopping list.
“I think it gives us flexibility, in the secondary window, depending on if there’s a need for the team, to maybe address it then,” Klopas told reporters. “If you look, if we add another forward now, we have a lot of depth – and quality depth – in the areas that we talked about. It’s good to save something in the case that we need to address certain areas of the team.”
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With Ciman on board, the Impact’s defense has been addressed, on paper at the very least. Montreal allowed 58 goals last year and were MLS’ third-worst defense, and finished bottom of the league. Ironically, that provided them with the large chunk of allocation money that was used to pay down Ciman’s salary.
Ciman will compete with Bakary Soumare, Victor Cabrera, Wandrille Lefèvre and Karl W. Ouimette for minutes at center back. And everyone will have to earn their minutes, Soumare said.
“There are a lot of guys here, everyone is going to try to earn a spot in training, whether it’s me, whether it’s Laurent, whether it’s Ouimette, whether it’s Wandou, who knows,” Soumare told reporters. “It’s not about forming a pair; it’s about forming a team, forming a defensive unit. That’s what we’re focusing on because it’s not a pair or a trio, it’s about a team, it’s what we’re trying to build here. Whoever I’m paired up with, we’re going to try to do the best we can. But we’re going to work as a team, first and foremost.”
