One of the underrated superstars in MLS, enjoy Ignacio Piatti while you can because 2019 appears to be his last year in the league.
Piatti, who will turn 34 before the Montreal Impact's opening 2019 MLS match, is entering the final year of his contract, but currently expects next season to be his last in Montreal.
“I have a year left on my contract, and after the club has options, but the idea is that yes, this is my last year in Montreal,” Piatti told FutbolMLS.com over the weekend in Argentina at a testimonial match for a former teammate at his former club, San Lorenzo.
Last season, Piatti scored 16 goals and had 13 assists in 32 matches, averaging a goal involvement once every 97.3 minutes. In his MLS career, he has 63 goals and 34 assists in 124 appearances. Piatti has helped lead the Impact to two MLS Cup Playoffs appearances and a run to the Concacaf Champions League final in 2014 over his four full seasons while making three All-Star teams and two MLS Best XI's, including 2018.
He's accomplished a lot but, before he leaves, Piatti has big hopes for his final year.
“My dream is to win MLS Cup before I return [to Argentina]," Piatti said. "I hope that this year it can happen, we will do everything to win it.”
If Montreal are to make a deep run in 2019 as Piatti hopes, he thinks the club needs a faster start than last season. In 2018, the Impact stumbled to a 2-11-0 record to start the season.
“Beginning the league well, because the last season we began by losing 10 of our first 13 games and that is seen in the long run because those are the points that later caused us to miss the playoffs," Piatti admitted.
The Impact have acted swiftly in looking to improve the squad, specifically give Piatti more support in attack. Montreal signed Harry Novillo and traded for Piatti's countryman Maxi Urruti.
“I met with Maxi in Buenos Aires because he wanted to know some things about Montreal," Piatti said. "I hope that we can form a good partnership and we’ll see how many more players come.”
