CF Montréal moved ‘mountains to come find me’, says defender Johnston

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Alistair Johnston, the latest addition to CF Montreal’s lineup, says it’s always good to feel loved.

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And the Canadian international defender said the CFM showed they wanted Johnston so much that the Major League Soccer team made multiple offers for him until they came up with an offer that Nashville SC could not refuse. CFM gave up $ 1 million in specific allocation funds to acquire the 23-year-old and also awarded him a multi-year contract with a significant increase from the $ 73,000 reserve minimum he won last season.

“Money is as much about that as it is about anything else,” Johnston said during a video conference from his home in Aurora. Ont. “You want to be somewhere where you feel like you are loved. And I always felt loved in Nashville. I felt that Montreal was willing to move mountains, and move everything possible, to come and find me. And that was something that really caught my eye and got me excited about this potential move. “

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A lot has changed for Johnston in the past year. He came out of his first national team training camp with a roster spot and played 18 games, 16 as a starter, for a team that is considering its first World Cup appearance since 1986.

“When he was in Nashville, if he made a mistake, people would say, ‘He’s still a rookie, he’s still one of the young men who just got out of college,'” Johnston said. “Now I am a Canadian international. They paid a big transfer fee to get me, so the pressure is going to come. But, as a footballer, you want that pressure.

“I hope to have a bigger role,” added Johnston. “I know it is a young team compared to the national team. In Nashville, I was the youngest starter, but I look at the bottom line here and I’m potentially one of the old guys (and) I can’t even grow a beard yet. “

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Johnston said CFM captain Samuel Piette served as a mentor and helped him find his voice on the national team. He will also meet fellow national team defender Kamal Miller. They played together in high school and with club teams in Toronto. Miller, who is a year older, gave Johnston a way forward, landed a US college scholarship, and moved on to MLS.

The 5-foot-11-inch Johnston can play in various positions and describes himself as a tough defender.

“I have a bit of hockey experience (and) people will see it pretty quickly,” Johnston said. “I like to get involved with guys and feed off that energy.”

Johnston said he is closing the circle with his arrival in Montreal. He was born in Vancouver, but got his start in soccer at age four with Lakeshore SC on West Island. His family moved to Aurora when he was seven, but he said he is not a Toronto FC fan. It seems that the Toronto FC academy overlooked Johnston as a child, dismissing him as too small.

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