MONTREAL – With the first overall pick in the second stage of the 2014 MLS Re-Entry Draft, the Montreal Impact selected central defender Bakary Soumare. Per MLS rules, clubs have seven days to make a genuine offer to the players selected in Stage 2.
Soumare, 29, from Mali, is a seven year MLS veteran, having played 115 games, 106 as starter, and 9,495 minutes of play.
He kicked off his professional career with the Chicago Fire in 2007, after being drafted as the second overall pick in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft.
In 2008, in his second season in MLS, he was nominated for the MLS Defender of the Year and was named to the MLS Best XI. The following year, he was also selected to the MLS All-Star team.
In August 2009, he transferred to French club US Boulogne, where he played more than 70 championship and France Cup games in three seasons in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2.
He came back to MLS in 2012 and saw limited playing time with Philadelphia. Following a trade in May 2013, Soumare returned to Chicago. He played 48 games, 47 as starter, and more than 4,000 minutes in his last two seasons with the Fire.
At the international level, Soumare has been capped 13 times by Mali since 2008, playing World Cup qualifying matches as well as matches in the Africa Cup of Nations.
In the first stage of the Re-entry Draft, last Friday, the Impact selected goalkeeper Eric Kronberg. The club also picked up midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker, on December 10, through the Waiver Draft, and defender Donny Toia, on November 19, in the Chivas USA Dispersal Draft.
BAKARY SOUMARE
Position: Defender
Height: 6’4
Weight: 190 lbs.
Born: November 9, 1985, Bamako, Mali
Citizenship: Mali
Last club: Chicago Fire
