Montero reportedly loaned to Millonarios for 6 months...

with options for 6-month extension and to buy.

Discuss...

I would miss him but the the fact that if this turns into a full transfer not temp. That's 650k of allocation money. Rumored the loan it self apparently would open a DP spot given how its structured.

Ahem it wouldn't be montero though it would be Rosales. I mean this loan happens we get AM we use it to buy down Rosales's contract to non DP level thus opening one

I been corrected at SAH apparently to can't buy down a contract to not DP even during the off-season.

Yea they are i always assumed you can't in a middle of a season but can during the off-season. But thats silly MLS rules for ya.

hmm i'm unsure about this. i like Montero but he is maddeningly inconsistent. but i think the issue is more the salary cap than his inconsistency. so i guess this solves that problem. and i think we'll be fine without him with Estrada, Zakuani and Martinez to pick up the scoring slack next to Eddie GAM Johnson.
ideally we use this newfound salary cap space to shore up the defense now that Parke is gone, and Montero comes back for the second half of the season improved and more confident from his time in Colombia.
either that or he stays in Colombia and we replace him with somebody better...

the idea of millos, is to be with him for a year.........with an option of leave the club in june, if a better offer arrive to seattle (europe) (words of the millonarios manager)

millonarios will play libertadores this year

http://www.sounderatheart.com/2013/1/3/3832302/fredy-montero-loan-analysis

He never showed up when it really mattered. And if you can't do that in MLS, you're going to have a rough time in Europe.

it is relative.....falcao in south america wasnt so impresive, as he is in europe......montero has skills, a lot of colombians footballers complained that they arent so good in mls, because the focus of the pre season there...and the style of game, that is very different......they say, that people with poor genetic body(colombians arent so strong as american.... ) is very dificult to succeed .....

your league isnt so easy as you think......or not necesarily is easier than others....it depends in the style of the player

Of course, the physical style is an adjustment for players from South America, Mexico but I feel while great in the regular season Montero would disappear in the playoffs.

It's impossible to know what this means for the team until summer. Then we either sell him, clearing his roster and DP slot and making a ton of AM, or the loan gets extended and we hunt for a replacement with a limited budget, or the six month loan isn't extended and no one buys, in which case we've given up our number one offensive threat for half a season in exchange for mild cap relief. Even in the best case scenario, guys who can consistently puts up double digit goals and near double digit assists every season can be tough to find.

It's a gamble, like the Johnson move last year but with higher stakes.

I'm confused by the financial and roster implications of this move. Do we get $ from Millonarios for the 6 months? Do we have an available DP slot we can fill for those 6 months? What happens if he craps the bed with Millonarios in the Copa Lib and wants to come back to Sounders roster? According to the Columbian poster here on BigSoccer, $4.5m seems high for a buy out but maybe speculative depending on how well he does in that tournament. But we wouldn't see any of this money until the summer transfer window anyway, right? I'm having a hard time figuring out how this benefits the Sounders but I don't really understand the allocation money and DP rules all that well. If anyone can explain it I'd really appreciate it.

Millos will pay for the loan , 600 thousand us dolars aprox......according to millos manager the loan will be a year .............it will be very dificcult that in six months or in a year millonarios pay the 4.5 m $ (colombians teams, havent pay too much for a player) .

I believe it is, which makes me think there's very little chance he returns. Wouldn't make much sense.

And don't forget that Montero wants this too. And not out of any bad feelings for Seattle but the reality that his career is in limbo at the moment. Real or not, the CONMEBOL footballing associations don't respect the level of play in MLS, and without playing for his national team his chances of advancing to Europe are slimmer than they are for similarly talented Americans who can make the USMNT. It may not be fair, but it's real.

I don't know, do clubs really care if a player gets called up for his national team? You could argue they prefer he didn't. Besides that, Colombia looks stacked at forward. I'm not sure Montero has much of a chance at a call up even if he has an amazing run in the Libertadores. And this is not to say Montero is making a mistake. The Libertadores is as good a place for an audition as there is.

It definitely matters in England as far as getting a work permit is concerned. As for other countries, I'm sure that clubs who might not even place him on their radar might if he were a member of the Columbian NT. At the very least, Montero might be more satisfied with an extended stay in MLS if he felt he could still play for Columbia while doing so. Personally I think both the goal of playing for the national team and playing in a higher league are partly dependent on one-another in his case. If he were a national team prospect, he might never have come here in the first place. He might have gone straight to Europe. It's all the same to him though. He has to try something and short of playing in the Club World Cup, he won't get the platform he needs in MLS.

I think it's a mutual arrangement. Both he and Seattle feel the need to move on.

Look at Carlos Valdes though..
He has been getting looks with Colombia while playing with Philadelphia... but a move to Santa Fe has been talked about for him a few times this off season so maybe you're onto something here.

True, but it's much more competitive up front. And as you said, he may end up going back to Santa Fe. Most players want more commitment from their national teams than a few call-ups and Valdes is no spring chicken. Montero is still younger than Valdes, but he's already in his mid-20's with no callups since coming here. He's starting to run out of options. He has to think of what's best for his career just as Seattle has to think of how best to win MLS Cup.

The time may come that Montero may just be unable to break through with Columbia but he'd be selling himself short not to try. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. It sucks bc it seems like both parties think very highly of one-another and Montero fit in well for most part. Perhaps he'll return someday for a swansong.

per twitter
Eddie Johnson ‏@eddie_johnson7
“@_hdub: @eddie_johnson7 is Freddy no longer playing for the sounders?”I have no idea

more evidence how "close" eddie/fredy were

Or maybe since the club hasn't confirmed it he's not commenting...seeing how EJ is though it's probably that they weren't close.