CF Montreal Signs Alexis Sanchez

CF Montreal has made the miraculous move to sign forward Alexis Sanchez on a free transfer for a two-year deal. He will take up the designated player slot for the season and will surely bolster the struggling CF Montreal side and bring fans.

The Breaking News

In a shock move on a random Monday Night, CF Montreal posts a cryptic video that ends with CF Montreal's Managing Director, Recruitment and Sporting Methodology Director, Luca Saputo, talking about an unknown player named Alexis who wants the #10 on the roster.

Fans and reporters alike were able to quickly identify who it was and Fabrizio Romano was able to put the cherry on top to confirm that the player that fans were able to speculate was the former Sevilla forward.

The Business Side

Let's quickly address the business side of this deal.

CF Montreal, in terms of tickets and sales in general, has been at an all-time low this season.

You don't expect CF Montreal to generate top-5 sales with a 20801-capacity stadium, but they're averaging only 15037 seats, which is 29th in the league. Ouch.

The team has been struggling to get people to come watch games since Ignacio Piatti stopped playing for the team.

We haven't seen that kind of recognition in a long time. Alexis Sanchez changes that.

He will bring so many fans from across the world. His passionate Chilean fans will come see his games in Montreal along with individuals around the US and Canada. Even if the team is bad, people will still come to watch because of who Alexis Sanchez is and was during his Prime.

The Saputos made a great move here financially for the team.

The On-Field Side

Now let's take off our business glasses and talk about his on-field presence.

To keep it very realisitc, he is 37 years old and there's no idea what is truly left in his tank. His last couple of seasons have been in big leagues across the world like LaLiga and Serie A, but he has not generated anything groundbreaking to show for it.

Obviously, MLS is not one of the top-5 leagues in the world, and he will probably score a couple of goals and get some assists, but it raises questions about his age and lack of quality in some of the bigger leagues. If you are using a highly coveted Designated Player slot on him, you hope he dominates the league, so this is something to be worried about.

This move draws major comparisons to Minnesota United FC and the deal for James Rodriguez. This deal generated a lot of sales and money for Minnesota but he barely played at all and when he did he looked incredibly out of place.

So given the age and the last example of a very old legend of the game who was bouncing around teams like Alexis Sanchez, this could be a bad decision.

However, on a more positive note, Alexis Sanchez can influence other potential signings and players choosing Montreal over other teams.

A player who has played in countless Champions League games, in the Premier League, Serie A, LaLiga and others will generate other players who want to play alongside him. This can bring in more quality players to build around the already set core of CF Montreal, like Prince Owusu, Wiki Carmona, Dani Pereira and others.

Potential Lineups

It's time to factor in some potential lineups for this team.

The Current Lineup + Alexis Sanchez

If Alexis Sanchez was plugged into the current starting lineup, he would most probably take Rios or Streit's spot in the lineup. He has played on the wing before and can be very comfortable in this role.

Ceballos should be ready to play and take Efrain Morales' spot to run a solid defence with Vera.

I think that he could provide that secondary scoring that Prince Owusu desperately needs, and this can build up CF Montreal to have a dangerous attack.

The Fully Healthy Lineup

CF Montreal is currently facing some injuries with Gillier and Carmona both being out for another couple weeks.

When the team is fully healthy, I believe this is what they will run. This allows for Montreals three best chance creators to be on the field and once one of them gets tired, CFMTL can change the pace with Synchuk coming in as a super sub.

This would be an interesting lineup and I would think it would generate some suprises.

The Dream Lineup

This is my dream lineup.

Alexis Sanchez at the 10 spot makes perfect sense. He wants the 10, and if there's still some magic left, he can facilitate all the offence for this CF Montreal attack.

The midfield would be in heavy rotation with Loturi/Pereira/Longstaff/Piette, but these will be great based on situations in game.

There could be a chance this lineup could be made with Philippe Eullaffroy ideals of simplicity and joy in play rather than rigid strucutre, but the 4-3-3 has been working as CF Montreal has turned there abymsal start into a mediocre year, so the future will only tell.

The Future of CF Montreal

This move can be seen as both a minor win for CF Montreal at the minimum given that the team will be having Alexis Sanchez at least player for the next 3 months.

This can hopefully help bolster a team that, at this current moment, is struggling and sitting in 14th in the Eastern Conference.

This can also however handicap CF Montreal if Alexis Sanchez has nothing left in the tank.

In a world where everything goes according to plan, Alexis brings the team some morale and good results and influences some major signings and moves next season and help build a culture and future for a CF Montreal team that looks misguided.

I think that the Saputo‘s at least from a business standpoint make a decent deal. This team is struggling financially to fill seats and this will fix it.

Alexis play on the field however will only be determined when he is ready to step on the field. For the sake of all of us CF Montreal fans, hopefully there’s some juice left in the tank.