Fredy Montero is really good, costs a lot

Not only did Fredy Montero win the Player of the Month for August and September, he did so in resounding fashion. The second place man was lapped as Montero pulled in more than 40% of the vote to 2nd's less than 10%. The performances that earn that kind of respect also earn a contract that has a lockdown fee that is quite high.

If another club wants to talk to the Seattle Sounders/Sporting Lisbon player they need to pay out 25 Million Euro just to get to the table and negotiate with the rights holding teams. To ignore the wishes of the clubs a new team would need to pay 60 Million Euro.

That's big money and shows the kind of respect that Sporting has for the star.

The odd loan (as reported in the USA)/not-quite-a-loan (Port.) gets an explanation (translation via SaH writer Carlos)

It's better to prevent than to fix (i.e. better safe than sorry, a drop of prevention is better than a gallon of cure, etc.), and the Lions (Sporting) have set, in timely fashion, all the conditions of Fredy Montero's future contract, which will last from the end of this season through the next four. Otherwise, all that remains to make it official are the bank transfers, with the dates already previously set.

Payments are still owed Seattle, but when they are made he's with Sporting, at least that's how it reads at this time.

The loan/not-loan thing likely doesn't change the allocation money status of the contract, but a huge transfer while still under joint control would be more likely to help Seattle escape the cap. While this is just supposition due to the cloudy nature of MLS contracts it would seem to make sense that if tens of millions of dollars were exchanging hands Adrian Hanauer would get a few of them.

To think that one of Fredy's questions upon signing with Seattle was just a simple request to get help with his acne (according to Souders FC: Authentic Masterpiece). He has developed a bit since then.