Di Lorenzo, Gatti Back, Hemming to Join Impact in 2010
Add Leonardo Di Lorenzo to the list of signed and secured veterans retuning to the team through the end of the 2011 season. The Montreal Impact announced Wednesday the midfielder’s return for the next two seasons, as well as the acquisition of midfielder Tyler Hemming for the 2010 season. Simon Gatti will also remain with the team, playing out his option year with the team.
Di Lorenzo, 28, played the last four seasons in Montreal. In 94 matches, including 84 starts and 7,409 minutes of play, Di Lorenzo tallied nine goals and 15 assists for 33 points. Last season, he earned five points, including a goal and 4 assists. Di Lorenzo was the Impact’s MVP in 2007 and was named to the All-League Second Team in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
“Leonardo has shown us his desire to return to Montreal and we are very happy to see him come back,” stated Impact technical director Nick De Santis. “This is very positive because he is an important element in our player core. He played a determining role in our most recent championship conquest. He is a player who always gives 100% and who wears the Impact colours with pride. He has progressed within our organization and he is very familiar with the club’s philosophy. At his age, he can now reach his full technical and mental potential.”
Hemming, 24 and from Ontario, played for the Charleston Battery last season, tallying three assists in 26 games, in which he started 22 of. Other opportunities for the young midfielder saw him play stints with Tampere United, a Finnish first division club and Toronto FC (MLS). Hemming also played a few games with the Canadian national team, notably four matches during the U23 Olympic qualifiers and a friendly against Cyprus with the senior team.
“I’m thrilled to be joining the Montreal Impact,” said Hemming. “It’s a new step in my career. I’ve heard very positive things about the organization and I’m therefore looking forward to wearing the team’s colours. I will do my best to help the team win.”
“Tyler will bring depth to the team because he is a versatile midfielder who can either play center or right,” noted De Santis. “Being six feet tall, he is a player who has a certain presence on the field. He did well with Charleston and he will now need to demonstrate that he has his place on the line-up.”
Hemming arrives in Montreal Thursday, but should take part in the Canadian national team’s training camp in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from January 18 to February 1. He will join the Impact afterwards as their training camp will already be underway.
In order to gain the rights to Hemming, the Impact loaned Quebec midfielder Pierre-Rudolph Mayard, a healthy scratch through most of the 2009 season’s second half, to the Charleston Battery for five months (March 10th to August 13th, 2010.)
valuable experience when he will be back with the team in mid-August.”
More good news for Impact fans came when the Impact also confirmed that midfielder and defender Simon Gatti will play his option year in 2010.
No longer with the team this season will be defender Alex Surprenant. The young defender had taken part in 13 matches in 2008 and had only played one game in 2009, either bouncing up and down between Montreal and the Trois RIvières Attak or sitting out as a healthy scratch through most of last season.
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