Miguel Montano, Josh Ford Sign With Seattle Sounders Ahead Of 2011 First Kick

Imagine my surprise this morning when a press release popped into my inbox announcing the signings of two Seattle Sounders. Josh Ford and Miguel Montano are now both under contract for the coming year after signing contracts with Seattle on Monday, making official what we've thought for the last week or so. Ford won the third goalkeeper job over Bryan Meredith in training camp while Montano has been dealing with a loan and contract situation throughout training camp.

Ford's contract is straight-forward while Montano's is a little more complicated. Ford won the job outright after a hotly-contested battle in training camp with Meredith, forcing the coaching staff to wait until the last possible moment to choose one of the two. When only Ford was around at the Community Shield match, it became apparent he'd won the job.

As for Montano, he was on a free loan in 2010 and was re-signed by the Sounders ahead of the 2011 season. Joshua Mayers has a better explanation than I could come up with, so I'm going to steal his. Essentially, Seattle didn't purchase Montano's rights, but instead re-did the loan with Montano's Argentinian club.

Montano was on loan and he is on loan again. Seattle declined the option to purchase Montano's rights after the first loan, but the team was able to work out another loan arrangement with Quilmes in Argentina to keep the talented 19-year-old with Sounders FC in 2011.

Mayers noted the plan is to sign Mauro Rosales, as well, and the Sounders are waiting on his Visa and other paperwork.