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Nesta signs with Impact

Alessandro Nesta (Getty Images)

By FRANCO PANIZO

The Alessandro Nesta-to-MLS rumors have been swirling for weeks and months, and he finally has a club in the league to call home.

The iconic Italian centerback signed with the Montreal Impact on Thursday, the club announced on Thursday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but what was revealed was that Nesta will not be counted as a Designated Player for the expansion Impact.

The 36-year-old Nesta brings with him a wealth of experience, having won a World Cup with Italy in 2006 and having played in the UEFA Champions League throughout his time in Europe. Nesta will give Montreal a recognizable name to sell to its fans while also providing a capable and talented defender.

In order to acquire Nesta, the Impact had to receive first priority for him from the New York Red Bulls. The Impact gave the Red Bulls allocation money to do so. (UPDATE- Sources close to the situation say the Red Bulls had initially filed a discovery claim for Nesta and, as a result, the Impact needed to acquire first priority to sign him.)

What do you think of the Impact signing Nesta to a non-DP deal? How do you see him faring in Montreal/MLS? Think his name will help sell tickets at Stade Saputo?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Re non-DP status, if you are a half-season “rental,” so you only make half your theoretical annual salary, do they pro-rate it to determine, or can you evade the DP rule by picking up the player in July where maybe they only earn $299K for the rest of the season, so to speak?

    To me the low salary suggests either he really wants to play here, or he’s deteriorated enough where he couldn’t command anything.

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  2. MLS has just clarified the Nesta signing. In order to cut down on the number of older players coming to MLS to go into semi retirement being signed as Designated Players, MLS has created a new player designation: RP. Nesta is apparently the first player signed under this new Retirement Player designation.

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  3. Montreal “technically” has an average attendance of 30K still because of the Olympic Stadium games. But 2 of the 4 Saputo games have been in the 12K range while the other two were like 20K (Saputo opener) and 14K (TFC). If you like irony it would amuse you that the smaller two crowds would have fit in the pre-expansion Saputo. But in their defense unlike Houston they didn’t get to open in the new stadium which means some of the initial buzz might have been muted by expansion reality before they got into the new home.

    Also, FWIW, a 14K average would still be higher than LAC, Dallas, Columbus, DC, NE, and SJ, and in the neighborhood of Chicago and Colorado. But probably not the Toronto-esque loyalty I think MLS expected….this is running roughly what they would have drawn in the minors just the same (give or take some for the Olympic effect).

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  4. In their limited defense, Marsch’s team already will not be as bad as expansion Chivas or 2001 Tampa Bay, the historical lows. And they are arguably not even the worst team in Canada. But TFC needs to keep getting results to avoid that fate….

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  5. Yes, so it evens out “kinda.” Montreal drafted Ching in expansion, took E. Johnson in allocation, and discovery claimed Barbara. Factually speaking, none of those 3 started the season with the Impact. Editorially speaking, debatable roster strategy, same could be said of their Older Italian penchant. 5-11-3 so far.

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  6. Well he apparently disagreed because in a backhanded compliment to MLS he said pre-transfer, paraphrasing, the Italian and European game is too fast for him now. And FWIW ACM has been looking into its options for years dating back to the Gooch signing.

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  7. Yaeh how do you put a discovery claim on a World Cup winning player? Did they do that back in 1996 when the league started? This is like Christopher Columbus sailing from Spain to Rome and saying I discovered Italy it is now apart of Spain!

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  8. If Montreal is already having difficulty selling tickets in their first season, that’s hugely disappointing.

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  9. ?

    There’s been tons of info on here about it. It’s just hit weird snags/delays. Everyone knows it’s happening.

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  10. all i’ve seen is you complaining in the whole post… use your daddy’s money and start up you’re own free spending league

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  11. only in McMLS does this discovery claim, allocation, DP nonsense exist.

    single entity needs to end and we need free agency. Until these two things happen MLS isn’t a real league.

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  12. NY put in a discovery claim on Nesta and decided not to sign him. Montreal wanted him and bought his discovery rights. I’d call that more good fortune that Montreal wanted him than savyness by the Red Bull FO. Smart move to put a claim on him but I don’t think they planned this exact scenario in their heads.

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  13. NY got paid something for essentially nothing, since Nesta wasn’t our player. I’m impressed that NYRB front office has gotten savvy enough to do these kinds of deals in MLS. I hope that allocation money goes towards acquiring a key forward or attacking mid… let’s say a certain DP attacking mid…

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  14. I always thought the allocation order was to keep USNT players from returning to the MLS club they want to play for, but it can be for international players too?

    So can my club put a claim on Balotelli just in case he moves here?

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  15. NY Red Balls will file D. Claims on every player around the world so they can get some change.Pretty stupid MLS rule what idiots run that geriatric league.

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  16. ESPN reporting Bradley to Roma is happening. 3 year deal to be signed tomorrow. Little suprised they caught wind of this before Ives.

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  17. Is there no end to your complaining?

    Go follow some other league talk and watch as teams slowly decline and go bankrupt.

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  18. How do they sign a discovery claim? Isn’t that for unknown players and not so much world cup veterans and international legends?

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  19. MLS teams can file Discovery Claims which give them rights to a player. New York sold their rights to Montreal. Just do a Google search for MLS Discovery Player rule.

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  20. Oops, well, I was slightly wrong here.

    Most of that was correct, but generally is for current and former US Men’s National Team players and former MLS players.

    But NY made a discovery claim for Nesta back in December (a shrewd move) thinking he might be interested in coming to MLS this year. So, they did have first rights to sign him. And since MLS is single entity, you can’t just go sign with Montreal, he is signed by MLS as a league and allocated to a team based on the discovery or allocation process. So, NY basically owned the rights to sign him because of their claim, and traded that right to Montreal.

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  21. They didn’t have to get the “ok” from NY, they had to trade up and take their spot in the allocation order.

    Montreal had top spot in the order (which is much like the Waiver wire order in other sports), but used their spot to claim Eddie Johnson and traded him to Seattle. That moved them to the very bottom of the priority list. So, if any of the other 18 teams wanted Nesta, they could’ve grabbed him (I believe). So to prevent this, they traded back to the top of the list.

    In other sports waiver ranking is based on current season standings. In MLS, it’s initially based on the previous season’s results, and it’s a tradable commodity.

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  22. seriously, i can’t believe montreal had to get the “ok” from NY to do this. absolutely ridiculous.

    anyway, great signing as a non-DP. glad to see this happen.

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  23. wonder if his back will be able to deal with the turf in montreal and all the travel…i doubt he lasts past this season.

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  24. One of the great centrebacks of his era. Excellent anticipation and great ability on the ball. I still thought he was good enough to contribute to a Champions League team. The MLS is adding a legend.

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