There’s still work to be done – always is – and there are some irons still heating up in the fire, but the pieces that are Valour FC’s 2022 roster are starting to take shape.

“We really like where we’re at,” said Valour FC GM and Head Coach Phillip Dos Santos in a chat with valourfootball.club this week. “We always want to come into preseason with a big core, a big number of your players already set and ready to hit the ground and go. We feel we’ll be there once preseason starts.

“There are still a couple of international players who are going to be awaiting their visas, and that’s the unpredictable part of all of this. We would like to have everyone in for preseason, but I think we will only be missing the two-three internationals (only two, Chilean forward Walter Ponce and American defender Jonathan Esparza, have been announced so far) and we’re very close to closing down on the others.”

Dos Santos said the option-years on contracts of goalkeeper Matt Silva, defender Amir Soto and midfielders Brett Levis, Jose Galan, Masta Kacher and Keven Aleman have not been exercised, with the latter having already signed with Atlético Ottawa this week.

Meanwhile, midfielders Rafael Galhardo and Caden Tomy, forward Austin Ricci, and left back Arnold Bouka-Moutou contracts have expired, although that doesn’t mean the doors have been completely shut on possible future deals.

“We’d like to thank the players for their hard work, dedication and commitment to the club during their time here.” Dos Santos said.

The loan agreements with defenders Rodrigo Reyes (Chivas Guadalajara), Rocco Romeo (Toronto FC), midfielder Sean Rea (CF Montreal) and goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois (CF Montreal) have also all expired.
The club has had extensive talks with CF Montreal about having Sirois and Rea return, which would be a boon to the local side. Sirois became Valour’s first major award winner in 2021 when he was named the Canadian Premier League’s Golden Glove as the top goalkeeper.

Sirois led the CPL with nine clean sheets – a Valour club record – and also led the league with 94 saves. Rea, a promising midfielder, made 23 appearances covering 1,176 minutes, scoring once and proving to be an adept playmaker.

“We are talks right now with CF Montreal and have been in talks with them continuously,” Dos Santos said. “We have a Plan B that is probably going to be on the table until the end of this week, it’s just how long do we want to wait to guarantee that we bring a guy like Joe back. We know what Joe means for this club and we’re willing to take the risk of waiting.

“Our position hasn’t changed: we want Joe to be part of this squad in 2022 and we’re working with CF Montreal to try and make it happen. We also understand the player belongs to CF Montreal and there’s always the risk he could stay there – that’s something we can’t control. But we will do everything we can to make sure we stay in the race for Joe.”

VALOUR ROSTER TAKING SHAPE

GK: Rayane Yesli (2021 CPL U-Sports draft pick)

D:  Andrew Jean-Baptiste, Stefan Cebara, Tony Mikhael, Federico Peña, Andy Baquero, Johnny Esparza, Matteo de Brienne

MF: Daryl Fordyce, Raphael Ohin, Diego Guitérrez, Daniel Ascanio

F: Moses Dyer, Walter Ponce, William Akio