Union make a deal for Joaquín Torres from CF Montréal

This article was updated on Jan. 26 after the trade became official.

The Union have made another offseason signing from within MLS, acquiring versatile forward Joaquín Torres from CF Montréal. The team paid $500,000 to be split over the next two seasons, plus up to $300,000 more based on performance incentives.

A 25-year-old Argentina native, Torres can play on either wing or in attacking midfield. That versatility will help the Union in a year when they need a lot of depth to contend in 50-plus games across four competitions. In the team’s traditional 4-4-2 setup, he’d fit best as a second forward — where the Union especially need depth right now — or backup No. 10.

Or he could provide late-game flexibility for a formation change. A 4-3-3 with Torres and Quinn Sullivan on the wings would be a nice card to play.

“Joaquín offers a new dimension to our attack with his ball progression skills and aggressive, forward-moving mindset,” Union sporting director Ernst Tanner said in a statement. “He excels at creating opportunities as well as finishing, and his dynamic, proactive movements are exactly what we were looking to add to our attack.”

Torres was a lively player in two years up north, and his totals of seven goals and nine assists in 62 games don’t tell the full story. His 45 chance-creating passes were the third-most on the team. he also was as much a substitute as a starter down the stretch in 2022, when Montréal rose to second place in the Eastern Conference.

Montréal changed managers this winter, as Wilfried Nancy left for Columbus. He was replaced by Hernan Losada, who managed D.C. United in 2021 and early 2022 before being fired — partly for his bad record, partly for angering players with overbearing training methods. It’s not clear yet whether Torres wanted to leave after Losada arrived.

The Union have wanted Torres for a while, with word first emerging of it just under two weeks ago. The team’s interest went up and down, and Montréal’s asking price may have gone up and down, too. But the deal is just about done now.

» READ MORE: Jim Curtin quashes questions of the Union holding players back from the USMNT

After four years backing up Andre Blake, it looks like Matt Freese will get the chance to be a starter — but not with the Union. A report by MLS’s website said Freese is heading to New York City FC, with no further details of the deal available yet.

New York’s starting job is open because veteran Sean Johnson, the 2021 MLS Cup final MVP and a U.S. national team regular, is a free agent. He visited Toronto FC earlier this month, and reports have said that’s his likely destination.

Freese, a 24-year-old Wayne native, grew up in the Union’s youth academy. He went to Harvard when that opportunity presented itself, but left after two years to turn pro with the Union. He has spent his entire professional career here so far, with 16 games for the first team and 31 for the reserves.

The Union’s backups this year will thus be veteran Joe Bendik and rookie Holden Trent, the team’s first-round pick in last month’s college draft. It was the first time the Union used a first-round draft pick on a player since 2016, and the first draft pick in any round used by the Union since 2018.

» READ MORE: Union alum Paxten Aaronson is excited to be at his first senior U.S. men's national team camp