Zachary Brault-Guillard was beaten once. His goal: not to be played the same trick this season.
“Now it’s up to me, in quotes, to get my fingers out of my buttocks to prove that I deserve my place,” philosophized the main interested party on Tuesday.
In the 2022 season, the right-back was limited to five starts in MLS, given the acquisition and performance of Alistair Johnston. During the off-season, his Canadian counterpart was sold to Glasgow Celtic, which theoretically cleared the way for Brault-Guillard.
However, CF Montreal went to seek reinforcements at the right defender position. The club acquired Aaron Herrera for a cash prize that included a $500,000 general allocation, a 2023 MLS SuperDraft first-round pick and an overseas berth. In short, the Montreal eleven has loosened the purse strings to acquire Herrera, which leads Brault-Guillard to believe that the dice are loaded.
“The club has put the means to bring in a player. It’s up to them. It is also necessary to justify this purchase, therefore to play it. That’s often how it goes,” noted Brault-Guillard.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, ARCHIVES SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Samuel Piette and Zachary Brault-Guillard
One thing is certain, the one who begins his fifth season at the club absolutely does not want to stay on the bench as much as the previous year.
No one would want to continue as second. We are all competitors and we all have ideas in mind.
Zachary Brault-Guillard
It is a role that does not interest the 24-year-old defender. He got 19 and then 23 starts in 2020 and 2021 respectively before seeing his minutes count drastically reduced. His playing time has been cut by more than half between 2021 and 2022, and he’s not thrilled.
” I am ambitious. I want to play. After a while, every player wants their game time. If you don’t have game time, you would try to find game time elsewhere. For the moment, I am with CF Montreal and it is going very well, ”he explains.
What if it doesn’t go well? The leaders “know the rest of the events if it does not happen in my favor”.
Not revealing all of his game, Brault-Guillard specified that there are “things that have not been done. The club re-signed me: they think my market value is good. […] My agents spoke with management about some things.”
“I want to go to Europe”
However, what he made clear is that his ultimate goal is to leave the club to play on the other side of the Atlantic like his former teammates Ismaël Koné, Djordje Mihailovic and Johnston: “Since my arrived at CF Montreal, I say it: I want to go to Europe. »
The player trained at Olympique Lyonnais did not say if he regretted having signed a contract extension in April 2022 which ties his hands a little, but he did not seem the happiest with the situation. “Now it’s signed and I have to deal with it. »
Nevertheless, he is entitled to another chance this season. With the arrival of Hernán Losada as head coach, he can start on new bases and take advantage of “new ideas”.
“There is no rush,” he recalls. It’s the start of the season. He has to admit he’s right, but he sees the game slowly unfolding in front of him and prepares a back-up plan.
One of the options for racking up more minutes is the ability to play elsewhere. He added that he was open to the idea of changing positions if it meant more presence on the pitch.
“I was trained as a midfielder, but also a right-back, he pointed out. If one day [Losada] wants me to play in the middle, to help the team, I will. I also have a good left foot. If sometimes I have to troubleshoot on the left, I will. »
If he plays, Brault-Guillard will be able to turn the page on a more difficult period at CFM. If he doesn’t play, his chapter in Montreal may be over.