Laurent Ciman leaves CF Montreal

Big surprise, Thursday morning: Laurent Ciman, former defense general and central figure in the coaching staff at CF Montreal since 2021, is leaving the club.

He is not the only one to weigh anchor. Goalkeeper coach Romuald Peiser, head of goalkeeper development method Luca Bucci, as well as physical trainer Barthélémy Delecroix are also taking out the mainsail.

The club gives no indication as to the reasons for these departures. But he notes that the process of hiring their replacements has already begun.

Head coach Laurent Courtois arrived in Montreal without his own assistants in 2024. David Sauvry, hired last January, remains in post. He was the one who took care of the offensive set play sequences, in particular. Eduardo Sebrango also remains in Montreal, he who specializes in managing attackers.

Clean slate in the squad

Things are also changing in terms of the Bleu-blanc-noir squad. The CFM announced that the options of Nathan Saliba and Jules-Anthony Vilsaint have been exercised, which means that they will be back at least for the 2025 season.

On the other hand, the list of players who are leaving the club is long. Hold on tight: we say goodbye to Gabriele Corbo, Grayson Doody, Raheem Edwards, Ilias Iliadis, Lassi Lappalainen, Josef Martínez, Matteo Schiavoni, Róbert Thorkelsson and Rida Zouhir.

Corbo, Edwards and, to some extent, Zouhir are the most surprising names to make this list. Corbo was an important player in the Montreal ramparts, especially at the end of the 2024 season and during the 2023 season. Edwards obtained the unwavering confidence of Courtois in the last months, while Tom Pearce, nailed to the bench, offered offensive qualities that “Raheem The Dream” just didn’t have.

Zouhir is a product of the CF Montreal Academy. But he never knew how to break through the midfield lineup, and certain discipline issues were detected here and there.

It was an open secret, but Victor Wanyama’s contract will not be renewed either. Same thing for third goalkeeper Logan Ketterer. Joaquín Sosa, who was in Montreal on loan from Bologna, will not be back.

This therefore means that there remain 16 players under contract with the CFM for the 2025 season. These are goalkeepers Sébastian Breza and Jonathan Sirois, defenders Fernando Álvarez, Dawid Bugaj, George Campbell, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Tom Pearce and Joel Waterman, midfielders Alessandro Biello, Caden Clark, Bryce Duke, Dominic Iankov and Samuel Piette, and attackers Matías Cóccaro, Mahala Opoku and Sunusi Ibrahim.

There are therefore 14 positions left to be filled between now and the start of the next season in February. There’s plenty of work ahead for the club’s new sports structure, announced Thursday morning.