CF Montreal | Ariel Lassiter traded to Chicago, Mathieu Choinière has an offer from Switzerland

Things are moving at CF Montreal. While Ariel Lassiter has officially taken over the Windy City, Mathieu Choinière has reportedly received an offer from Grasshopper in Switzerland.

The Zurich-based team has reportedly offered CF Montreal a $1 million transfer fee, according to insider Tom Bogert. The Press can confirm that the transaction has not yet been concluded.

If he were to move to Zurich, the Montreal Swiss Army knife would come under the orders of a certain Marco Schällibaum, former coach of the Impact, in 2013. The Grasshopper is in last place in the standings after four league games.

Choinière, according to Bogert, requested a trade last spring, information that the main interested party has never denied. Since then, it is true, his performances on the field have taken a bad turn, as if the midfielder had been distracted by the procrastination away from the pitch.

The Quebecer is the first CF Montreal player to have completed all the stages of his development within his Academy, from the pre-academy to the senior team. He had his best moments under Hernán Losada, in 2023, recording 5 goals and 5 assists. Choinière was also part of the Canadian team during its historic run at the Copa América, earlier this summer.

In total, the number 29 has played 139 games with his hometown club. He has been part of the MLS All-Star team for the last two seasons.

Like many players, Mathieu Choinière has never hidden his ambitions to play in Europe. Here is a great option available to him, even if the level of the Swiss championship is, after all, far from the five major leagues of the Old Continent.

A renewed offensive sector

At the same time, early Wednesday evening, CF Montreal announced that Ariel Lassiter had been traded to the Chicago Fire, as part of the final day of the MLS summer transfer window.

In return for the left back, the CFM receives up to $150,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM). Of that, $75,000 in GAM will be sent to him in 2024, to which could be added $75,000 in GAM in 2025 if certain conditions related to the player’s performance are met.

A transaction that comes a few days after the one sending Ruan, his counterpart on the right, to FC Dallas.

Thus, the president and interim sporting director, Gabriel Gervais, has completely renewed his team’s corridors before the last stage of the season. A sign of the essential nature of this facet of the game for Montreal’s success.

Apparently, the debut of Englishman Tom Pearce, who arrived in July as Lassiter’s understudy, has satisfied the club. The Costa Rican international has been a starter for CFM both under Hernán Losada and for Laurent Courtois.

But after an interesting start to the campaign, his output has clearly declined. Recently, his runs down his wing have been in vain and his passes have been imprecise. Despite this, his seven assists are a team high, and he has also scored three goals. Figures recorded mainly before the end of May.

This trade is mainly explained by the player’s contractual situation. His agreement with Montreal was expiring at the end of the year. The same scenario applied to Ruan.

In his last media appearance in early July, Gabriel Gervais mentioned that he had spoken to all the club’s players to take their pulse. He probably understood at that time that the chances of being able to extend the contracts of Lassiter and Ruan were not widely in the realm of possibility.

This summer, as interim sporting director, Gervais went and got right backs Dawid Bugaj and Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, in addition to Pearce on the left. Faced with the specter of losing the services of Ruan and Lassiter at the end of the campaign without receiving anything in return, Montreal made a move. All while giving itself the chance to use the sums received to a better use. We will have to wait until the end of the season to find out what it will do with them.

The keys to the new

Thus, the offensive face of CF Montreal in this month of August is today very different from the one it presented at the start of the season.

In addition to the wings, we can expect young Caden Clark, fresh from Minnesota United, to get a serious audition at attacking midfield. The disappointing Bryce Duke, Dominic Iankov and Kwadwo Opoku have failed to impose themselves there with any consistency in 2024, and it is one of the big gaps in the CFM’s playmaking. Clark has a clear path.

Montreal has been active during this transfer window. Does this mean the club has thrown in the towel on its 2024 season?

Not quite. Already, even if it is not very far from the last place in the East, the CFM is also only one point away from a place in the playoffs.

The acquisitions of youngsters like Clark, Bugaj and Marshall-Rutty, all under 21, are obviously about building for the future. But they can also help the team now. Clearly, there is a desire to breathe new life into it, with nine crucial games still to play.

Ruan missed most of his crosses, despite some good deep runs. Lassiter did not provide the desired attacking contribution, and when he was tested a little deeper on the pitch, almost as a left-back, the result was catastrophic.

As long as the midfield is not unblocked by an attacking player linking the last third to the other two, CF Montreal’s game will go through its full-backs.

The keys now belong to Pearce, Marshall-Rutty and Bugaj. With Caden Clark, will they create enough chances to feed the eager and greedy appetites of Josef Martínez and Matías Cóccaro?

The answer from August 24.