Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Trust in team moved Monteiro to return to Philadelphia
CHESTER » For all the back and forth, for all the hand-wringing and wondering from fans last year as to whether Jamiro Monteiro could make Philadelphia a permanent soccer home, it turns out that one part of the equation was decided long ago.
If there was any worry that the Cape Verdean midfielder, who impressed on loan last year with the Union, might have excelled enough to make French club FC Metz regret banishing him to the bench, the feeling was most certainly not mutual.
“I don’t know Metz,” Monteiro shared Tuesday morning, his first public comments since agreeing to a permanent deal with the Union in January. “I only know Philly now.”
In his nine months in MLS, one word came to define Monteiro’s time: Trust. He trusted that the Union had his best interests in mind, that they would value him, that they wouldn’t do what Metz had done, acquiring him via a big transfer fee and then letting him languish on the bench without much reason.
While it took a while for the deal to be finalized, Philadelphia is where Monteiro wanted to be, trusting (again) that the financial conditions would fall into place.
The process was often arduous for Monteiro. The native of the Netherlands made his first big overseas move to Metz, but it fizzled within months, the midfielder falling out of favor with the manager of the club, then in Ligue 2. It led to seven months on the bench, then a loan lifeline to the Union, who had been tracking him since before the Metz move, in March.
The direction of his future weighed on the 26-year-old, even as he regained form for the Union.
“To be honest, we were talking the whole season long, since I came here, about signing a contract here,” Monteiro said as the Union prepared for Saturday’s season-opener at FC Dallas. “It was taking very long. Even in the season, I had games and I was thinking, what was my next option? Do I stay here? It was difficult, but I talked a lot with the coach and he said to focus on the games and everything will be alright. I’m happy I made that decision.”
Monteiro’s value to the Union was clear. He not only provided four goals and nine assists, but his blend of speed and smarts, his attacking verve and defensive mettle, perfectly suits Ernst Tanner’s counter-attacking style. He’s an ideal counterpoint to the tireless work put in by Brenden Aaronson and Alejandro Bedoya.
With the Union electing to discontinue their reliance on pricey foreign No. 10s — Borek Dockal in 2018, Marco Fabian last year — securing Monteiro’s return was the key offseason acquisition. As much as the tactics and money (the Union gave Monteiro a designated player contract and paid a club-record $2 million fee to Metz) needed to work, the trust factor that Monteiro had with Tanner, technical director Chris Albright and coach Jim Curtin was an important part of the equation.
Part of the symbol of that commitment is Monteiro occupying the No. 10 jersey. Though he’ll still primarily play as a No. 8 in the formation, wearing the No. 10 signifies his influence midfield.
“It’s just a number. I still have the same qualities,” Monteiro said. “The No. 10 is a big number. Every midfielder wants to play with the No. 10, so that’s why I took the number, it was free. I’ve always wanted to play with a 10 so that’s why I made the decision.”
Monteiro gives the Union versatility that Fabian did not. He and Aaronson interchange enough to effectively offer looks with dual No. 10s, and Monteiro’s work rate offsets defensive shortcomings in other setups, such as with Ilsinho.
“Me and Jamiro, I like to say, are like the same player,” Aaronson said. “We kind of switch around, we like to go get the ball, go wherever to get it.”
From the outside, there were questions of whether Philadelphia would be a place Monteiro would want to stay. Now there seems no doubt it’s a place he wants to be.
“Sometimes I was thinking when I would go to bed, what will be my next option, what will I do? Because we still didn’t have an agreement and at that time, I didn’t want to go back to Metz,” he said. “So it was difficult because it took so long, but finally I’m here.”