Re-signing Piatti should be priority for Impact
Resurgent team on a scoring tear of late and talented midfielder a big reason why
The past three weeks have been good to the Montreal Impact.
The team is on a four-game winning streak for the first time since March 2013. The Impact have gone from last place in the MLS Eastern Conference to a tie for fifth place in a league where the top six teams in each conference make the playoffs.
The team has scored three goals in each of its last three games, a first since the team moved to MLS.
And coach Mauro Biello has been transformed from an endangered species to a tactical genius.
The current streak is impressive because three of those wins came during an eight-day stretch. The victories highlighted the team’s fitness and depth. The Impact started the season as a possession team, but their current identity is the polar opposite. In last Wednesday’s 3-0 win over the Chicago Fire, the visitors controlled the ball for two-thirds of the game, but the Impact used their speed to create chances on counter-attacks.
It was the same story on Saturday night. Real Salt Lake had the advantage in possession — 55 per cent to 45 — but were burned by the Impact’s speed.
It’s a good time to be an Impact fan and an even better time to be a player.
But it should be noted that there are storm clouds lurking.
The first is the status of Ballou Tabla, the talented teenager who has come up through the Impact Academy. He has shown he can play at this level, but his ambitions go beyond the MLS. There are constant rumblings that he sees a future for himself in Europe, although a few rumoured deals have failed to materialize and the talk will be put on hold when the international transfer window closes at the end of the month.
Soccer Canada is also concerned about Tabla’s future plans. He could be playing for the Canadian national team, but he has balked at committing to the country where he grew up. He was born in Ivory Coast, and playing for his native land remains an option.
A more recent concern is the future of fan favourite Ignacio (Nacho) Piatti. His representatives have been talking to the Impact about a contract extension, but there doesn’t appear to be any progress. The possibility of Piatti’s departure became a topic of discussion after Piatti earned player of the game honours in the win over Chicago. When he was interviewed on the field, he told fans he might be playing his last 10 games for the Impact. When reporters asked him to expand on his remarks, he said he was leaving the negotiations to his agents, but he said he hoped to remain in Montreal.
We don’t know what the Impact has offered Piatti, and we don’t know what Piatti wants. But we do know two things: Piatti is a huge part of the team’s success; and he is underpaid.
After the Chicago game, Biello praised Piatti as one of the best players in MLS, putting him in a class with Toronto’s Sebastian Giovinco, among others. The midfielder has the numbers to prove it. Piatti, who was named MLS player of the week on Tuesday, has scored 14 goals this season, including six in the team’s current run. He ranks third on the MLS goal-scoring list behind David Villa of NYCFC (19) and Chicago’s Nemanja Nikolic (16). He’s tied with Portland’s Diego Valeri.
But Piatti’s salary lags far behind these elite players. Villa makes $5.61 million, Nikolic is paid $1.7 million, Valeri earns $2.6 million and Giovinco, who has 12 goals this season, makes a whopping $7.11 million (all figures in U.S. dollars).
Piatti? He earns $450,000. He isn’t the highest-paid player on the Impact roster, either. Designated player Blerim Dzemaili makes more than $1 million on the contract he signed with Bologna, Matteo Mancosu makes $719,514 and defender Laurent Ciman makes $661,466. In a year when Montreal sports fans have seen money play a part in the departures of Andrei Markov and Alex Radulov from the Canadiens, it would be a shame to see another star player leave.
By the way, Piatti isn’t the biggest bargain on the payroll. That would be homegrown talent Anthony Jackson-Hamel, who had a goal and assisted on both of Piatti’s goals in the win over Chicago. He has seven goals and three assists in only 13 games and has more than earned his $66,000 salary.