Report: Montreal Impact close to signing Alberto Gilardino

Alberto Gilardino has always seemed to be a perfect fit in Major League Soccer and reports were sending him to Toronto FC in 2013-2014. Rumours have re-surfaced around the Montreal Impact and Gilardino has been linked to the bleu-blanc-noir, who might be in the market for a top striker after Marco Di Vaio's retirement.

A bilingual social media report

The beauty of covering the Impact is the bilingualism of that same coverage and both RDS' Friolet and Sportsnet's Sabetti reported that 2 DP players will be signed by the Impact in the upcoming week.

L'Impact annoncerait la mise sous contrat de 3 joueurs cette semaine, dont 2 désignés #IMFC #MLS

— Patrick Friolet (@PFrioletRDS) December 28, 2014

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Impact will announce two DP signings this week. Plus maybe another signing. Stay tuned. #IMFC #MLS

— Nick Sabetti (@nicksabetti) December 28, 2014

Grant Needham of TSN690 has confirmed that the club is close to signing the Serie A veteran but nothing is official yet.

Almost done! #IMFC are looking to add Alberto Gilardino as their new threat up front. Where there is smoke there is fire! Great news!

— Grant Needham (@GrantNeedham) December 29, 2014

Serie A or MLS?

That is the question. Still under contract with Guangzhou Evergrande, Gilardino is still an attractive target for Serie A clubs including his ex-clubs Fiorentina and Genoa. There might be a connection with the Montreal Impact as the 2006 World Cup winner spend the 2013 season on loan with Bologna FC, now co-owned by Joey Saputo.

But it is the silly season , called the transfer market, and Frank Klopas has made it clear that the club is close to signing a top central defender, a priority for the club. Could the Impact afford Gilardino and a 26-28 year old central defender( who will probably hail from South-Central America) ?

The answer is yes.

Will it happen?

It's silly season time.