Drogba Lands In Montreal, Penedo Leaves LA And Other Big MLS Transfers

Drogba lands in Montreal

Everyone's likely already heard that Didier Drogba has signed with the Montreal Impact, a team that recently put up a second place result in the CONCACAF Champion's League. While the rumors were originally for Chicago, Montreal was able to steal him away with a combination of targeted allocation money — they backed the Brink's truck up to Drogba's front door — and location — Montreal being a French speaking town. 

This is the biggest signing in the history of the Montreal Impact and the town came out to greet their new DP in massive numbers.

Drogba himself seemed rather impressed with the welcome, tweeting a vine he took during the festivities--and they were festivities. 

First steps on Canadian soil, What a welcome @impactmontrealpic.twitter.com/L2B2Lpzf5g

— Didier Drogba (@didierdrogba) July 29, 2015

Drogba, a legendary African footballer who plays internationally for the Ivory Coast, is coming to Montreal following a championship season with Chelsea where they were never really in any doubt of winning the Premier League title.

While Montreal has essentially spent all of the money, given the crowd Drogba drew it's safe to say they'll make it back, and given that they have many, many games left to play--due to taking time off from MLS to prepare for the CONCACAF Champion's League Final--this signing could see them through to the play-offs and beyond.

Penedo leaves LA Galaxy

During this year's MLS all-star game, Jaime Penedo announced, on twitter, that he would be leaving the Los Angeles Galaxy. 

A Veces las circunstacias del presente te hacen tomar decisiones radicales, que el CORAZÓN no las aprueba pero la RAZÓN y el ORGULLO si. JP

— Jaime Penedo (@JaimePenedo26) July 29, 2015

If you can't read Spanish — don't worry I can't either, but I know someone who can — Penedo is saying: "Sometimes the present circumstances compel you to make radical decisions, ones that the heart does not approve but reason and pride do."

While no one is entirely sure yet why Penedo is leaving the Galaxy, from a post he made on Instagram it sounds like it may be due to his current contract not offering the stability he is looking for.

While Galaxy fans will be sad to see the Panamanian goalkeeper go, there will be some solace in the fact he is unlikely to stay in MLS and they won't have to root against him in the future.

In light of this news, LA has traded their second round pick in the 2016 MLS superdraft to Orlando for the return of goalkeeper Donavan Rickets, who played with the Galaxy in prior seasons.

The Red Bulls finally spend some money

Since Ali Curtis and Jesse Marsch came on and took over the team, it's no secret that they haven't been looking to spend any money whatsoever. This is a stark contrast from past years when the team would always have one or more high paying star DPs to help draw crowds and win games, but since Thierry Henry retired and Tim Cahill moved to China the team's only designated player has been Bradley Wright-Phillips, the 2014 MLS Golden Boot winner who tied the league's single-season scoring record.

This frugality doesn't exactly look to be changing, but Marsch and Curtis have loosened the purse strings enough to bring on a pair of new players.

The first, and already announced, acquisition is Shaun Wright-Phillips, elder brother to Bradley. 

Photo: @NewYorkRedBulls | Twitter

The elder Wright-Phillips brother is coming from QPR, in the Premier League, where he didn't get much playing time. Originally he came to New York for his brother's wedding and stayed to train with the team and get fit, but the longer he stayed the more everyone began to question if his presence was more than just for fitness. So when the announcement came the reaction was, understandably, "it's about time you admitted it."

The second acquisition the Red Bulls are making has not yet been officially announced, but sources close to the process have been telling reporters it's a done deal. 

According to the Argentine outlet TyC sports, and confirmed by reports from Sports Illustrated's Grant Whal, the New York Red Bulls have just signed the 25-year-old San Lorenzo striker Gonzalo Veron to a $2.2 million DP contract.

Photo: @SInow | Twitter

Veron has scored 8 times in 52 appearances for San Lorenzo, has speed, and can play either out wide or centrally. Given his age, pricetag, and skillset fit in with what Curtis and Marsch have said they are looking for, he should bolster the Red Bulls' attack going into the fall.

The Philadelphia Union make their biggest signing ever

When the Philadelphia Union looked around the league, they saw everyone was spending a lot of money. This confused them and they wondered, why aren't we spending any money? The answer was a shrug, so they decided to go and spend some money. But on who? When they took another look around the league they noticed that everyone was spending money on central attacking midfielders, so they figured why not us and went to work.

This resulted in the signing of 30-year-old Swiss midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta. 

OFFICIAL: @philaunion acquire Swiss International Tranquillo Barnetta. Welcome to the club! http://t.co/yuYt9Qmyd2 pic.twitter.com/zD5Lnyda7Z

— Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) July 29, 2015

While this isn't exactly how it happened, it's close enough to the truth that it's both a little sad and pretty funny. This is what Philadelphia coach Jim Curtin told MLSsoccer.com in a phone call, “Listen, we factored in the fact that a lot of teams are bringing in central players. Look at NYCFC with [Frank] Lampard and [Andrea] Pirlo and you see Kaká in Orlando and you see [Steven] Gerrard in LA. It’s a lot of central midfielders. [Barnetta’s] a guy that’s played against those guys at the highest level and he can do it centrally.”

Barnetta is, arguably, the biggest signing in the history of the team and brings a lot of experience and leadership to the squad. Barnetta is a veteran of 3 World Cups, the UEFA Champion's League and the Bundesliga. Given the Union like to play in a 4-2-3-1 formation, Barnetta is expected to slot into the number 10 role and would combine with Cristian Maidana. 

Curtin also said that Barnetta is able to play on the wing and may occupy that space until Andrew Wenger recovers from a concussion.