MONTREAL - The Montreal Impact announced on Tuesday the acquisition of full-back and Canadian international Zorhan Bassong (pronunciation: Zo-ranne Ba-sson), who has signed a two-season contract with two option years. His acquisition will be confirmed upon reception of his international transfer certificate and medical examination.
“We are very happy to announce the signing of Zorhan Bassong, with whom we’ve had an agreement for 2021 for some time. We preferred to wait to make the announcement to avoid destabilizing the players in his position, and achieve our 2020 goals,” said Montreal Impact sporting director Olivier Renard. “He is a versatile young Canadian, playing as a left or right back, or as a center-back in a three-man defense. He’s shown a great desire to come back here, and he is delighted with the club’s project.”
Bassong, 21, was born in Toronto, but his family moved to Montreal just months after his birth. From the age of five, he played his minor soccer at CS Longueuil, before making the jump to Europe, in Belgium (Mouscron’s and Anderlecht’s youth systems) and France (Lille OSC’s youth system). In 2016, he made his debut with Lille’s reserve team, where he played 31 games, before joining Cercle Brugge, in Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League, in 2019.
Earlier this year, he made his international debut for Canada on January 10, when the Reds beat Barbados 4-1. In February, he was also named on the provisional roster of the U-23 national team for the Concacaf Olympic qualifying tournament.
Transaction: The Montreal Impact acquired Canadian international full-back Zorhan Bassong from Cercle Brugge, who has signed a two-year contract with two option years.
ZORHAN BASSONG
Position: Defender
Height: 5’9’’
Date of birth: May 7, 1999
Place of birth: Toronto, Ontario
Citizenship: Canadian and Belgian
Last club: Cercle Brugge (Belgium)
Date of transfer: December 1, 2020
