By Canadian Press

Leading scorer Martinez a free agent after CF Montreal declines option

Nov 21, 2024 | 9:01 AM

MONTREAL — CF Montréal will not exercise the contract options of nine players including leading scorer Josef Martinez, the Major League Soccer club announced Thursday.

The Venezuelan international had 14 goals and three assists in 24 games last season while being named the team’s most valuable player.

Montreal also declined the contract options of Canadian defender Raheem Edwards and veteran midfielder Lassi Lappalainen. Gabriele Corbo, Grayson Doody, Ilias Iliadis, Matteo Schiavoni, Robert Thorkelsson and Rida Zouhir are the other players.

The club says it is still negotiating with midfielder Ousman Jabang, while the contracts of designated player Victor Wanyama and Logan Ketterer and the loan of Joaquín Sosa will expire at the end of the year.

The club did exercise the options of Canadian midfielder Nathan Saliba and forward Jules-Anthony Vilsaint for the 2025 campaign.

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The player departures came on the same day that Montreal parted ways with four members of its coaching staff, including assistant coach Laurent Ciman.

Sixteen Montreal players were already under contract for the 2025 season: goalkeepers Sébastian Breza and Jonathan Sirois, defenders Fernando Álvarez, Dawid Bugaj, George Campbell, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Tom Pearce and Joel Waterman, midfielders Alessandro Biello, Caden Clark, Bryce Duke, Dominic Iankov and Samuel Piette as well as forwards Matías Cóccaro, Mahala Opoku and Sunusi Ibrahim.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2024.

The Canadian Press