Alexis Sanchez Joins CF Montreal as Key Player in MLS

Alexis Sanchez is heading to Canada. The former Barcelona, Arsenal, Manchester United, Inter, Marseille and Sevilla forward has signed as a designated player with CF Montreal, stepping into Major League Soccer as the club’s new figurehead at a moment of real jeopardy.

The 37-year-old’s deal runs until next May, taking in the rest of this campaign and the sprint season scheduled for the first half of 2027. Montreal also hold a one-year option that could keep him at the club through the 2027-28 season, once his current spell in Spain is complete.

For Chile’s all-time leading scorer, this is no farewell tour. Not according to him.

“I am very happy to join CF Montreal and take on this new challenge. I'm grateful to the club for the confidence they've shown in me,” Sanchez told the club’s media, leaning straight into the responsibility that awaits him.

“I'm eager to put my experience to work so that we can reach our objectives and create memorable moments for our supporters. I'm here to give everything I have for the club and for this city.”

Those words will resonate in a city searching for a spark. Montreal sit 14th in the Eastern Conference, with only 16 points from 18 matches under interim manager Philippe Eullaffroy. The team have gone seven league games without a win and boast one of the least potent attacks in MLS.

They needed a statement. Sanchez is exactly that.

Club president Luca Saputo did not hide his excitement at landing a player who has lived almost every level of elite football.

“The arrival of Alexis Sanchez represents an important step in our sporting project. Alexis possesses exceptional technical quality and experience at the highest level of world football,” Saputo said.

“His personality, leadership and competitive mindset fully align with our club's identity and ambitions. We are of firm belief that he will have an immediate impact both on the field and in the locker room.”

That is the bet: that a veteran with 51 goals in 168 caps for Chile can walk into a struggling dressing room and change its temperature overnight. That his edge, his relentlessness, can jolt a passive attack into life.

Montreal’s frontline has laboured all season. The movement has been predictable, the finishing wasteful, the confidence fragile. Sanchez arrives as the man expected to drag that unit forward, to knit attacks together and give the team a cutting edge it has sorely lacked.

The schedule wastes no time. His debut could come as soon as this weekend, away to Eastern Conference rivals D.C. United. A new league, a new continent, and a team desperate for a leader — all converging in one fixture.

For Montreal, this is more than a marquee signing. It is a line in the sand. Now the question hangs over the club and its new star: can Alexis Sanchez still bend games to his will, and with them, the direction of an entire season?