MONTREAL – CF Montréal announced on Friday the signing of Finnish international Lassi Lappalainen. The midfielder will complete his loan from Bologna FC 1909 through to the end of the year and will subsequently be transferred to CF Montréal, accepting a new three-season deal with an option year in 2025. The Club will use Targeted Allocation Money.
“Despite the fact that we were unable count on him as much as we would have liked to in 2021, due to injuries, we wanted to keep Lassi with us because we know his qualities and we are confident that he will return to the best of his abilities and well prepared,” said CF Montréal Sporting Director, Olivier Renard. “The fact that we can offer him stability, in a city and a Club he enjoys is also a key element in this decision.”
Lappalainen has played 37 MLS regular season matches, including 22 starts since his arrival at the Club in 2019. He tallied 10 goals and four assists. This season, he found the back of the net against Orlando on September 15 and collected two assists in 13 games, including eight starts, and 524 minutes played.
He made his senior national team debut January 11, 2019, in a friendly match against Estonia, and has since earned nine caps with Finland. Most recently, he represented his country at Euro 2020, playing 15 minutes against Russia in the group stage on June 16, 2021.
Prior to joining the Club, he played 16 matches for HJK Helsinki in 2019, earning 15 starts in the Veikkausliiga, the Finnish first division, and two starts in UEFA Champions League matches. During that spell, he managed to score on six occasions, including twice in Champions League fixtures. In 2017 and 2018, he also completed a season and half on loan with Rovaniemen Palloseura, also in the Veikkausliiga, where he scored a total of 12 goals in 39 regular season matches in addition to three goals in five games in Finnish Cup competition. The Finland international made his professional club debut in the Finnish top flight in 2016 with HJK Helsinki where he featured in 14 regular season matches.
Transaction: Finnish international Lassi Lappalainen is transferred to CF Montréal, having accepted a new three-season deal with an option year in 2025.
