Depth has been the key word in Montreal this offseason.
The Impact addressed their midfield lately, business they capped off with the re-signing of captain Patrice Bernier on Thursday. Twenty-four hours later, another area is deeper: Montreal selected goalkeeper Eric Kronberg, formerly of Sporting Kansas City, in the first stage of the MLS Re-Entry Draft.
But in what capacity have they acquired Kronberg? In Montreal, Evan Bush won the No. 1 ‘keeper job off Troy Perkins – who has parted ways with the Impact – in the latter half of the 2013 season. But Kronberg was Kansas City’s starting ‘keeper until he broke his hand in July.
“Obviously Bush finished the season as the No. 1 ‘keeper, but you’re going into it and everybody comes in, you bring in another guy that’s going to push him, and he has every right to compete,” head coach Frank Klopas told MLSsoccer.com by phone from Chicago. “It’s important that they get along. The most important thing is what's best for the team, but I think that it's important that they all compete, and [Kronberg]'s going to make that decision very hard.”
One thing’s for certain: Kronberg was the Impact’s man on Friday. Having the first pick in the draft allowed Montreal to do their homework thoroughly, knowing that no other team could swoop in.
“The [salary] number made sense for us, so it was just a matter of knowing people who knew him well, who he played [under], to kind of see the character and the mentality he has coming in, the training habits,” Klopas said. “Game tapes, we know. He played a lot of games this year for KC. That wasn’t a difficult part.”
Kronberg’s selection also indicates that Homegrown goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau, a 20-year-old Canada youth international, has a spot between the sticks set aside for him in USL PRO, with the Impact’s affiliate team FC Montréal.
“There’s going to be good opportunities for him now to play a lot of games with the USL PRO team,” Klopas said. “But also, we wanted to bring a little bit of an older guy, not a young guy that would be a threat to him, that has the experience to mentor him – [Kronberg]’s a little bit older than Evan, he can help both of them.”
