DZEMAILI ERA DAWNS FOR IMPACT
Does the name Blerim Dzemaili mean anything to you?
Unless you’re a huge soccer fan you’ve probably never heard of the Swiss international midfielder who plays for Bologna FC in Italy’s Serie A. But it’s a name Montrealers will get to know this year because Dzemaili will become the Impact’s new designated player for the 2017 MLS season, replacing Didier Drogba.
“I’m not hiding it: Dzemaili’s contract is a multi-year deal,” Impact president Joey Saputo said during a season-ending news conference in December. “He’ll be in Bologna until June 2017, and he will then be transferred to Montreal. He’s not hiding that, either. He’s ready to come to Montreal.”
Saputo is also a majority shareholder and chairman of Bologna, and there is obviously a strong relationship between the two clubs. Forward Matteo Mancosu joined the Impact last July on loan from the Italian club and Marco Di Vaio, the Impact’s first designated player in MLS, also came to Montreal from Bologna.
“He’s an international player with a lot of experience playing at the highest level,” Impact technical director Adam Braz said about Dzemaili. “He’ll bring a lot to this group, not only on the field but also in the locker room with his experience.”
Dzemaili, 30, is an attacking midfielder who played for Switzerland at the 2006 and 2014 World Cups and at Euro 2016. In 16 games for Bologna in 2016, the 5-foot-10, 160-pounder registered two goals, one assist and 27 shots in 1,307 minutes. Dzemaili will definitely help the Impact on the pitch, but what kind of impact (pardon the pun) will he have off it?
Drogba is an international superstar and you didn’t have to be a huge soccer fan to know his name before he arrived in Montreal in summer 2015 to a hero’s welcome at Trudeau airport — something never seen before for any athlete in this city.
Drogba attracted first-time fans to Saputo Stadium, which was a very good thing for the Impact. The club needs to hope they will keep going now that the star appeal of Drogba is gone.
The Impact should have a very solid club in 2017 after coming within one victory of advancing the MLS Cup last year. Ten of the 11 starters from the Impact’s impressive playoff run were under contract and Braz expected to also re-sign captain Patrice Bernier. The arrival of Dzemaili will make the Impact even better as Drogba had been relegated to substitute status at the end of his Montreal career.
Among those gone from last year’s club are midfielder Harry Shipp (traded to the Seattle Sounders), midfielder Johan Venegas (dealt to Minnesota United) and forward Romario Williams (sent to expansion club Atlanta FC).
One Impact player to keep an eye on is winger Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla, who was named the 2016 U20 Men’s Player of the Year by the Canadian Soccer Association. On Oct. 20, the 17-year-old became the youngest player to sign an MLS contract with the Impact after playing 21 games last season with the reserve club in the USL, scoring five goals and adding five assists.
Impact fans don’t have to wait long for the 2017 MLS season to get started, with the club opening training camp on Jan. 24 at Olympic Stadium, less than eight weeks after losing to Toronto FC in the Eastern Conference final. The Impact will open the MLS season on March 4 against the Earthquakes in San Jose, Calif., and then play their home opener on March 11 against the MLS Cup-champion Sounders.
The Sounders proved a team doesn’t have to spend exorbitant amounts of money on designated players to win the MLS Cup. Seattle ranked fifth in team payroll last season, according to figures released by the MLS Players’ Union, at US$10.728 million. Toronto FC, the team Seattle beat in the final, was No. 1 in payroll at $21.798 million, while the Impact ranked ninth at $6.741 million. Drogba’s salary of $2.166 million accounted for almost one-third of that total.
“I don’t think you need to spend that (huge) money on designated players to win,” Saputo said. “We were very close to winning and we were close to being there.
“I think you need to be intelligent in the way you spend. This is not something new that I’m saying … I’ve said it all along. We don’t have the means to do it, we don’t have the market to do it. We have to be intelligent in the way we spend in order to be competitive but, at the same time, be fiscally responsible in the way we operate.”
Drogba was a good investment by the Impact because he attracted people who weren’t huge soccer fans to Saputo Stadium. It’s a fun place to be for an Impact game and if you go once, you’ll probably go back again.
The Impact is certainly hoping that continues to be the case — even without Drogba.