Hanauer Confirms Montaño will be a Sounder

Sounders FC have confirmed that pending only some uncompleted bureaucracy, Colombian striker Miguel Montaño will be playing for the Seattle club in 2010.

Montaño has never played in the Colombian first division having moved to Argentina at 16 to join the Quilmes youth system, to join fellow Colombian Edwin Castro. Colombians are known to other Latin Americans as ‘cafeteros’ due to coffee being a staple crop of their region.

Hanauer: He has blazing speed

Sounders General Manager Adrian Hanauer confirmed the deal when talking to Prost Amerika partner *La Raza del nuestronoroeste.com.

“We are very excited to bring Miguel to Seattle. Miguel has blazing speed, makes decisive runs, he has good technique and strikes the ball well with both feet. At the same time, he is only 18 years old, and we will bring him along slowly.  We need to find out how he fits in with our group, and hopefully over time, he can contribute.”

Miguel noted that he is not a relative of Colombian soccer stars, the Montaño brothers; Jhonnier, who played for Quilmes youth before going to Italian Parma in the 90s, and now plays for Alianza Lima in Perú; and Victor Hugo, current leading scorer for French First Division club Montpellier who are enjoying a marquee season.

Colombian striker would travel in early March, to join the team

The young prospect confirmed, in interview for FMQ radio and El Sol de Quilmes newspaper in Argentina, that the agreement is ready, and as soon as paperwork is finished, he would travel to Seattle.

“I came to Argentina with this possibility, to later move to Europe or the US, and now, all is left is to give my best. We are only awaiting for the paperwork to come out, and they say towards the end of February or early March, would be when I travel, although we don’t have a date set,” the youngster said.

Montaño was scheduled to try out last month in Holland, but they could not complete his visa paperwork on time for him. Asked about his style of play, Montaño, laughing, answered “Well, some teammates compare me with Cristiano (Ronaldo), and my style of play is similar, but I think you need to prove that on the pitch”

Argentinian journalist Sergio Florentino, who covered the story from greater Buenos Aires, told La Raza that the teenager does look like the Portuguese striker, but Montaño played it down a little.

“Yeah, yeah, my teammates tease me about it almost everyday, but we all know Cristiano is unique”.

Translation and reporting supplied by Jorge Rivera of Prost Amerika partner La Raza del Noroeste

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