CF Montreal would have found its attacker

A resplendent mustache should soon be coming to Montreal. But it is not (only) for the facial hair of Matías Cóccaro that the sports management of CF Montreal seems to set its sights on the Uruguayan striker.

Has Olivier Renard found his gunner? Everything indicates that this would be the case. Saturday evening, MLS informant Tom Bogert confirmed the rumor that had been circulating for several days in the Argentine media: CF Montreal had reached an agreement with the Argentine club Huracán for the transfer of striker Matías Cóccaro.

Argentine journalist César Luis Merlo talks about a transfer fee of $2 million and a three-year contract for Cóccaro in Montreal, with an option year.

On Saturday evening, Cóccaro himself shared on Instagram the publication of a media covering the activities of Huracán announcing his departure to Montreal. It is followed by several others stories highlighting the end of his journey with the club.

“Be careful, written Prensa Quemera in the publication reshared by Cóccaro. The fox is gone. […] He will play with the Montreal Impact (where he will face Messi’s Inter Miami). »

All this to say that Cóccaro in Montreal, we can assume that it is not badly done. CF Montreal does not wish to comment on this.

The “Fox” of surfaces?

Yes, you read correctly. The Uruguayan’s nickname is “the Fox”. In his original language, it’s even better: they call him “El Zorro”.

Goes for the look and the nickname. Now, in terms of sports, what does that mean?

Cóccaro is 26 years old. He scored 31 goals in 110 games over two seasons in the Argentine championship, one of the good circuits in South America. With his previous club, Montevideo City Torque in Uruguay, it was 13 goals and 10 assists in 55 games. The echoes gleaned here and there on social networks speak of a charismatic player, who gives himself body and soul for the team.

A scorer with grinta, SO. Well.

In Montreal, he would join a packed group of attackers, but young, and above all lacking success. The proof: the CFM’s top scorer in 2023 was midfielder Mathieu Choinière, with five goals.

Romell Quioto and his ten goals per season – when healthy – left for Iran. Someone had to come and support Jules-Anthony Vilsaint (20 years old), Sunusi Ibrahim (21 years old), Kwadwo Opoku (22 years old), Chinonso Offor (23 years old) and Mason Toye (25 years old). Moreover, with the arrival of Cóccaro, could an attacker like Toye, who undoubtedly needs a change of scenery after four up-and-down seasons in Montreal, be tempted by an adventure elsewhere?

If the deal comes to fruition, Cóccaro would become the focal point of the Montreal attack. At 26 years old, in the prime of his career, the Uruguayan’s almost already confirmed potential is promising for the Impact and its fans. The Fox’s successes in Argentina still need to translate well onto MLS surfaces.

Designated player?

With a transfer amount estimated at 2 million, the question arises: would Matías Cóccaro become the second designated player in the Montreal squad?

Warning: In the next few lines we will attempt to explain certain MLS salary rules. We also want to give credit to Nilton Jorge, from the podcast Couscous Piri Pirifor his excellent popularization work on this subject, particularly on X.

Let’s dive in.

In 2024, the maximum amount a club can pay a regular player is $683,750. From the moment his budgetary burden is greater than this amount, two options are available to clubs: convert him into a designated player, or use “TAM”. We will come back to this.

First, what do we mean by “budgetary burden”? This is the sum of the player’s annual salary and part of the transfer fee that the club paid to acquire him. The whole constitutes the amount recorded on the team’s payroll annually, i.e. the budgetary charge.

So, if Cóccaro costs Montreal 2 million in transfer fees, we divide this amount according to the years of his contract. Here, we are talking about a potential three-year agreement. So, 2 million divided into 3 is $666,667 per year.

So before even talking about Cóccaro’s annual salary, we already assume that in 2024 his budgetary burden will be higher than $666,667. We are not far from the maximum amount of $683,750. One of the solutions, then, would be to move him to designated player status. The club would pay him based on a chosen salary — say $500,000, hypothetically — on top of his $666,667. But only $683,750 would be counted on payroll.

Are you following us?

The other option would be to move him to “TAM player”. TAM is for Targeted allocation money, or targeted allocation money. In 2024, clubs each have access to $2,400,000 in TAM. This amount cannot be traded to other teams, unlike GAM, or general allocation money.

The TAM can thus be used, in the case in question, to reduce Cóccaro’s budgetary burden so that it remains within the parameters of a regular player. If, for example, CF Montreal decides to pay its new striker $500,000 per year, this amount will be added to the $666,667 from his transfer amount. We would therefore be talking about an annual budgetary charge of $1,166,667. We therefore use TAM to pay the excess and reduce the player’s budgetary burden to the maximum amount of $683,750.

Is there an advantage to prioritizing one salary mechanism over the other? It depends on the budget and needs. Generally, the CFM does not seem to be in a hurry to hire three designated players, the maximum number allowed. Currently, there is only one: Victor Wanyama. In both cases, in any case, it is the club which pays the balance of the budget surplus.

Phew. Thank you for reading us this far. We got there together. High five.