Sometimes you just gotta shrug
Montreal makes...odd trade with Toronto
You’d think it would be noteworthy when the two Canadian rivals of the Canadian Classique make a trade with one another. After all, bitter rivals aren’t supposed to want to exchange players. Something about tarnishing the strip, or something.
That’s not really a thing with Toronto and Montreal though. They work together all the time. In fact, they are each others most frequent trading partner.
Their next most common trading partner?
That would be the Vancouver Whitecaps. For both. It’s a Canadian thing.
No, really, it is. As the three non-American teams in MLS they face unique challenges, so it just kind of makes sense to deal with each other. To help each other, even. Rivalries be damned.
So, when I say that today’s trade — Toronto sent Matty Longstaff to Montreal for young (and under performing) striker Jules-Anthony Vilsaint — was one of the oddest that has ever happened between the two sides you should realize that isn’t a statement I make lightly.
Now wait, you might be saying. Trading two under performing players for each other isn’t that weird, right? And, that would be fair. However, there’s another part of this trade that I’m trying to wrap my head around.
That is that Montreal paid Toronto $225,000* as well. For Matty Longstaff. A player making way too much money ($331,869 guaranteed in 2025), takes up an international spot and, importantly, was not regularly featuring for Toronto under Robin Fraser.
They paid Toronto to take on too much salary and an international slot. In addition to giving up a prospect.
Pourquoi?
I’ll try to be charitable to Montreal here and suggest that they see something that they can use in Longstaff. There is a clause that ads on an additional $50k if he stays next season, but that’s a stretch. This just seems like Montreal agreed to help TFC here (and to get a young player to a place where they can get playing time — Montreal’s refusal to field a second team in the MLS pyramid plays a role in that. A big role).
Earlier, I said that the two teams do work together often, but this trade takes it to a another level.
Unless Longstaff takes it to another level in Montreal. That’s gotta be the play, right?
Right?
As far as Vilsaint goes, it’s a low risk add for Toronto. He’s domestic and cheap. They can only get a benefit from him and, unlike Montreal, they have a second team they can give him time with. It’s not a difference maker move, but it’s a perfectly decent add.
Getting rid of Longstaff’s salary AND getting $225k to boot though?
It’s hard to say TFC didn’t do very well here and it’s even harder to understand what Montreal is thinking.
*there is some confusion on whether allocation money expires at the end of the year. It does not. The rule changed this year to all but eliminate expiring allocation (there are some restrictions as it relates to the U22 initiative), but even if that were not the case, teams always had three transfer windows to spend allocation.