Valour hopes to retain its key midfielders

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This article was published 21/10/2019 (2498 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IT’S no secret Valour FC’s roster will look different next season. The team finished with an 8-4-16 record and needs to make changes.

But there are several players the Valour brain trust would love to see return to Winnipeg next year and it starts with Michael Petrasso and Louis Béland-Goyette. The midfielders were the only players on the Canadian Premier League team’s roster with Major League Soccer experience. Petrasso made 14 appearances for the Montreal Impact in 2018, while Béland-Goyette played in 12 games with the Impact from 2014-18.

It was obvious Petrasso and Béland-Goyette had played in the best league in North America as they were Valour’s best players on most nights. But their future in Winnipeg is uncertain as they both played this season on one-year deals. Petrasso and Béland-Goyette have sat down with Valour head coach and general manager Rob Gale recently to discuss their contract situation.

“It was one year and I had a good season,” said Béland-Goyette, a Pointe-Claire, Que., native, at the team’s end-of-season media availability. “Now I’m looking for all the options that are in front of me. I’m not saying no to anything. I’m going to take my time, going to vacation a little bit and have a clear mind to look at that.”

Petrasso battled through injuries, but when he was healthy, he was arguably Valour’s best player. In 18 appearances, the Toronto native had six goals and five assists.

“We’ll just see what happens,” Petrasso told the Free Press. “Obviously, I told (Gale) I was really happy with being here. I loved playing at home. I’ve been unfortunate with injuries, but I collected back and I got a couple games and a couple goals and assists. I think I’m developing and we’ll just see what happens in the off-season. But I told him I’m happy being here and I’m happy with how the season went.”

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The players who are under contract for next season aren’t guaranteed to be back in Valour colours, either. For some, such as Winnipeg native Marco Bustos, they’ll hope their strong individual performance this season will take them to a more competitive league. Bustos, a midfielder, led Valour with seven goals.

“Everything’s kind of up in the air right now. The season is done and every player wants the best for themselves,” the 23-year-old Bustos said.

“It’s a great club here. I think I was treated fair, treated well and I got to play a lot. That’s really what it was about this season, was for me to come and play as much as I could and express myself to my coaches, teammates, my fans, to the fans here of the club and the league. I was able to do that. Like I said, it’s up in the air right now with different aspirations. I’d like to still play at the highest level that I can. I’m still young, so I got time. We’ll see what happens.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31

Taylor Allen
Reporter

Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.

Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.