CF Montreal | A reshuffled workforce, and it’s not over

Obviously, at CF Montreal, it’s not just at Christmas that we give gifts. The return from the holidays has been very busy in the offices of the Saputo stadium, while several arrivals and departures, and not the least, have already been confirmed. Let’s take the time to dissect all of this.

Jalen Neal, a shock acquisition

Certainly, the arrival of a new designated player, an attacker at that, catches the eye. But as we mentioned on Wednesday, Giacomo Vrioni comes to Montreal with certain question marks.

The case of Jalen Neal is very different. And maybe even more interesting. Neal, at 21, is one of the most promising young defenders in MLS. No one expected that the Los Angeles Galaxy, defending champion, would get rid of the American. This product of the Californian club’s Academy has started 16 times in 24 matches with the big club, in MLS and the League Cup, in 2024.

Neal ended up in 9^e position in the MLS “22 Under 22” rankings last year. With his new contract signed with Montreal until 2027, he also obtains the status of “U22 Initiative” player, a mechanism to lighten the budgetary burden of these young hopefuls in order to encourage their hiring.

So, if all goes well, Neal will now become one of the players with the highest potential in the CFM, along with Nathan Saliba and Caden Clark. And just like Clark and George Campbell, the new Montrealer was recalled by Mauricio Pochettino’s senior American selection for the January camp.

That said, this potential has to be paid for: Montreal sports management has agreed to give $650,000 in general allocation money (GAM) over two years to the Galaxy, as well as an international player place. A considerable amount, but still reasonable. Especially if it ends up being resold at a high price.

But for that, he will have to impose himself in the three-way defense of Laurent Courtois. This right-handed defender will probably not dislodge Joel Waterman in the center of the walls, but could compete with Fernando Álvarez on the left. The Colombian has just changed agencies, which is sometimes a prelude to an upcoming transfer.

Reinforcement in the middle

Let’s continue in the vein of arrivals. Fabian Herbers, acquired from the Chicago Fire last Friday, is primarily an insurance policy in midfield. In the club’s press release, president Gabriel Gervais noted his “versatility”, and we saw him play in virtually every midfield position, and even as a striker, over his eight years in MLS.

At 31 years old and with this jack-of-all-trades profile, he will not single-handedly change the tactical dynamics of CF Montreal. But as an understudy for Nathan Saliba or even Bryce Duke and Caden Clark, especially when international players are called up for selection during the season, Herbers should be very useful to his coach. For his experience, his positional flexibility, and his leadership.

The next day, CF Montreal announced that it had awarded a contract to its player drafted from the SuperDraft, the Nigerian Michael Adedokun, for the 2025 season. The midfielder has just won the player of the year title in Division 1 of the NCAA, he who scored 11 goals and had 11 assists with the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2024.

His last year filled with success allows us to believe in a great project here. But it is worth remembering that players from the SuperDraft managing to break into MLS are the exception rather than the norm.

A major overhaul

In terms of departures, only that of Matías Cóccaro, loaned to Atlas FC in Mexico in 2025, has been confirmed so far in this CF Montreal winter transfer window.

We will not restart the Uruguayan’s trial today. But overall, we must admit that Gabriel Gervais, supported by his directors Corey Wray, Simone Saputo and Luca Saputo, is in the process of carrying out a radical reshuffle of the squad left by Olivier Renard and Vassili Cremanzidis.

At the end of the season, Gervais underlined that Wray and the Saputo brothers had already been at work in their positions since the summer transfer window, which opened in July, even if they were only confirmed in their new positions in November. .

Thus, since the summer under this new sporting management, no less than 19 players have left CF Montreal, including Mason Toye, Ariel Lassiter, Gabriele Corbo, Raheem Edwards, Josef Martínez, Lassi Lappalainen and Victor Wanyama, to name only those -there.

In came Caden Clark, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Tom Pearce, Dawid Bugaj, and now Neal, Herbers, Adedokun and designated player Giacomo Vrioni.

Now, here is CF Montreal with 22 players hired out of a maximum of 30. No, the shopping is not over. What profiles should these other players have? Pearce is currently the only left back, so reinforcements at this position would be welcome.

Despite the arrival of Vrioni, the attack still seems to lack a little bite. Another big striker to combine with the Albanian certainly wouldn’t hurt. And there is room under the salary cap, with the team’s highest earners leaving.

In any case, at the rate things are going, with one new announcement per day since Friday, this article risks being obsolete by the time these lines are read.