Ignacio Piatti and the Impact: the mystery thickens

Ignacio Piatti was absent for most of the season, and this was again the case on Tuesday.

Updated 08 October 2019 at 13h40 Posted on 08 October 2019 at 11h16

The Canadian Press

In an unexpected and unpredictable end to the Montreal Impact's end-of-season check-out day, the Argentinian has given up on journalists who waited two hours for him to appear on the gallery. inside the Nutrilait Center.

All that was possible to know, courtesy of Patrick Vallée, the team's press relations manager, was that Piatti had met with the Impact leadership earlier in the day and that the The team had informed him of his intention to renew the optional clause to his contract, under the conditions stipulated in the agreement signed between the two parties.

For the rest, it's the big mystery. According to what was possible to learn, Piatti left the scene after meeting with the team without informing anyone. Nobody knows his intentions.

Neither Olivier Renard, the new sports director, nor Kevin Gilmore, the president, met the journalists.

Okwonkwo, the player par excellence

Earlier Tuesday, Nigerian midfielder Orji Okwonkwo received the Giuseppe Saputo Trophy, awarded to the Impact MVP at the end of the 2019 season.

Okwonkwo finished the year with eight goals, all in play, the highest total for a player playing a first season with the club since Didier Drogba, who scored 11 in 2015. He also added two assists in 28 games, including 24 starts.

Okwonkwo succeeds Piatti, who won the Giuseppe Saputo Trophy in the previous three seasons.

In addition, the Impact announced that French side defender Bacary Sagna has been named defensive player of the year in his second season with the club. Sagna succeeds goalkeeper Evan Bush, winner of the Impact's Defensive Player of the Year award in 2018.