Zachary Brault-Guillard

[nolando]

1 hour ago, BearcatSA said:

I have always liked him.  I think he would be a good pick up.

Same. I feel like he's underappreciated/undervalued.

[BearcatSA]

If the Caps went to a back four on occasion, he's a bonafide RB playing that position  I'd trust him to defend 1 v 1 "on an island" against a good winger much more so than Brown or Raposo, imo.  I thought he did a good job at RWB, as well.  He's not necessarily the best technical player with his first touch but he can do a job for you.

[costarg]

It's unfortunate he's stuck at our deepest position.  This guy has a lot of talent with great stats.  It's just been really difficult to get ahead of Johnston, Tajon and Laryea the past 2-3 years.  No doubt he will land on his feet and keep representing Canada when the opportunity presents itself.

Edited January 11 by costarg

[Bigandy]

2 hours ago, costarg said:

It's unfortunate he's stuck at our deepest position.  This guy has a lot of talent with great stats.  It's just been really difficult to get ahead of Johnston, Tajon and Laryea the past 2-3 years.  No doubt he will land on his feet and keep representing Canada when the opportunity presents itself.

add in the potentials of franklin, sigur and farsi and theres no real reason to invest heavily in him.... we dont need to disregard him as we dont know about the 2 duals, but hes not super important either. 

[costarg]

3 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

add in the potentials of franklin, sigur and farsi and theres no real reason to invest heavily in him.... we dont need to disregard him as we dont know about the 2 duals, but hes not super important either. 

Shit, I hadn't realized Sigur was playing RB, I thought and I hope he sticks to the middle.

Between Farsi at 24 and ZBG 25, having seen them both play, I'm putting my money on ZBG to keep that 4th spot.  Franklin has a way to go but keeping my fingers crossed for him too.

 

[Corazon]

On 1/11/2024 at 4:05 PM, costarg said:

Shit, I hadn't realized Sigur was playing RB, I thought and I hope he sticks to the middle.

Between Farsi at 24 and ZBG 25, having seen them both play, I'm putting my money on ZBG to keep that 4th spot.  Franklin has a way to go but keeping my fingers crossed for him too.

 

I think Farsi is great and I love his story and I would welcome him to our program in a heartbeat.  But ZBG & Farsi are similar quality in my opinion, maybe different styles and strengths but both seem to be good, not exceptional MLS outside backs.

But I'm sticking with ZBG, because at 19 years old and playing for one of France's biggest academies, he happily accepted an invitation to represent Canada, where he hadn't lived since his was a child.

[Obinna]

Is he planning to sign with someone this season?

It's already Feb and MLS teams are gearing up, yet I haven't heard a word about his whereabouts.

Too good a player not to find a gig in MLS. Not good enough a player to emerge in a top 5 league, don't think. Ligue 2 would seem like a good level for him at this stage, or the Belgian top flight. Anyone know what he's up to?

Let me guess, he's in Portland, right?

[Obinna]

Surprised no news about him has emerged. Does the CPL beckon? Doesn't MLS start this weekend? CPL starts in April and teams are adding signings as of late, perhaps that makes sense? It would be a move similar to the one Ballou Tabla made, having left Montreal and MLS for a league he would get guarenteed playing time in.

Either that or something in Europe is brewing? Seems unlikely with transfer windows having closed. Alternatively, he could be a late signing for an MLS team willing to take a flyer on a 25 year old wingback with 106 games and 6 goals on his resume. Hard to believe he wouldn't get a look, chance, opportunity, or sniff in this league. Would be bizzare, imo.  

[InglewoodJack]

Really good interview with him, it’s all in French. He’s still waiting for a club, he said that there were a few opportunities in Europe that didn’t work out. He also said a few years ago Clermont wanted to sign him, but Montreal didn’t want to lower their price and Clermont didn’t want to pay so much for a bench guy. Apparently he was asking to leave even back when Nancy was there. It sounds like he had a lot of opportunities to leave  but Montreal wanted to hold onto him. Now that he left, seems like he actually wanted to stay and he’s leaving the door open to Montreal bringing him back as a backup RB. Sounds too like he’s had other offers but because of his family, he can’t just accept to move anywhere.

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, InglewoodJack said:

Really good interview with him, it’s all in French. He’s still waiting for a club, he said that there were a few opportunities in Europe that didn’t work out. He also said a few years ago Clermont wanted to sign him, but Montreal didn’t want to lower their price and Clermont didn’t want to pay so much for a bench guy. Apparently he was asking to leave even back when Nancy was there. It sounds like he had a lot of opportunities to leave  but Montreal wanted to hold onto him. Now that he left, seems like he actually wanted to stay and he’s leaving the door open to Montreal bringing him back as a backup RB. Sounds too like he’s had other offers but because of his family, he can’t just accept to move anywhere.

Really appreciate this breakdown for the anglophones like myself. Glad to hear there's a sensible explaination. Too bad the European opportunities didn't pan out and interesting that family matters are making him selective over his next move. I wonder if that's financial (maybe rules out CPL) or if it's simply preference for staying in the city of Montreal. Either way, he won't want to be missing out for too long. Ultimately I imagine he'll want to get things sorted in the coming weeks.

Did he mention or give indication about how long he's willing to wait for the right move? To me, it would seem highly unusual for a 25 year old established MLS player to miss half a season for the sake of finding the "right" move. Perhaps his circumstances are highly unusual as well? Or maybe I overestimate his value in the market...

[InglewoodJack]

4 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Really appreciate this breakdown for the anglophones like myself. Glad to hear there's a sensible explaination. Too bad the European opportunities didn't pan out and interesting that family matters are making him selective over his next move. I wonder if that's financial (maybe rules out CPL) or if it's simply preference for staying in the city of Montreal. Either way, he won't want to be missing out for too long. Ultimately I imagine he'll want to get things sorted in the coming weeks.

Did he mention or give indication about how long he's willing to wait for the right move? To me, it would seem highly unusual for a 25 year old established MLS player to miss half a season for the sake of finding the "right" move. Perhaps his circumstances are highly unusual as well? Or maybe I overestimate his value in the market...

He also said there were a few european clubs that had also reached out and were interested, but he just couldn't agree to financial terms. He mentioned more than once about how he now has a family, his wife is also from Montreal too, so he can't just take any move unless it makes sense for his family, and the way he made it seem, I think his wife has certain ties to the city that make them moving away a bit trickier. I believe he was on about $300k last season, and that's probably what he's looking for at least.

He's in a really difficult spot in his career because he basically spent at least the first half of his prime riding the bench, his salary increased because he has all these years of service and he is a good player after all, so he's too expensive for a team to bring in as a backup, not tested enough for a team to bring him in as a starter, he's too old to take a leap of faith and take a paycut to play for a team that may open doors for him, he's still only 25 so he has a lot of playing time left too. No clue what you do in his position.

If I had to guess what he does, based on this interview, I think he holds out for Montreal to offer him a paycut to come and be the backup RB. He had made the point how Montreal pretty much only has one true RB (Ruan) and just how long the MLS season is to not have a back up plan. He had wanted to leave the club after last season (and after the previous 2), but when he found out Courtois was the new coach- he knew him from the Lyon days and also, apparently spoke to him at the MLS finals when he went to go watch Camacho play- he had warmed up to the idea, but ultimately, Montreal chose to let him go.

[Obinna]

4 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

He also said there were a few european clubs that had also reached out and were interested, but he just couldn't agree to financial terms. He mentioned more than once about how he now has a family, his wife is also from Montreal too, so he can't just take any move unless it makes sense for his family, and the way he made it seem, I think his wife has certain ties to the city that make them moving away a bit trickier. I believe he was on about $300k last season, and that's probably what he's looking for at least.

He's in a really difficult spot in his career because he basically spent at least the first half of his prime riding the bench, his salary increased because he has all these years of service and he is a good player after all, so he's too expensive for a team to bring in as a backup, not tested enough for a team to bring him in as a starter, he's too old to take a leap of faith and take a paycut to play for a team that may open doors for him, he's still only 25 so he has a lot of playing time left too. No clue what you do in his position.

If I had to guess what he does, based on this interview, I think he holds out for Montreal to offer him a paycut to come and be the backup RB. He had made the point how Montreal pretty much only has one true RB (Ruan) and just how long the MLS season is to not have a back up plan. He had wanted to leave the club after last season (and after the previous 2), but when he found out Courtois was the new coach- he knew him from the Lyon days and also, apparently spoke to him at the MLS finals when he went to go watch Camacho play- he had warmed up to the idea, but ultimately, Montreal chose to let him go.

Very interesting, thanks once again. 

I can see it playing out the way you describe and I think if it's possible returning to Montreal would be good for him, even with the paycut. The good thing is that coming down from 300k would still afford him a nice wage, maybe around the 200k mark. Even if he accepts half the money that's in American dollars and that's after earning a very decent salary. Hope it all works out for him, always rated him as a player. I wouldn't rule out seeing him earn a starting role if he comes back as well. He's had to compete with Barcary Sanga, Alistair Johnston, and Aaron Herrera, so it's not like he's played second fiddle to any scrubs. 

[nolando]

It's kind of cute, its almost like the club itself is his high school sweetheart or something; he was almost tempted away a few times but always came back to what felt like home. 

In footballing terms, though, he does seem to have put all his eggs in one basket and therefore artificially limited his own options.

[DeRo_Is_King]

On 2/21/2024 at 7:38 AM, InglewoodJack said:

Really good interview with him, it’s all in French. He’s still waiting for a club, he said that there were a few opportunities in Europe that didn’t work out. He also said a few years ago Clermont wanted to sign him, but Montreal didn’t want to lower their price and Clermont didn’t want to pay so much for a bench guy. Apparently he was asking to leave even back when Nancy was there. It sounds like he had a lot of opportunities to leave  but Montreal wanted to hold onto him. Now that he left, seems like he actually wanted to stay and he’s leaving the door open to Montreal bringing him back as a backup RB. Sounds too like he’s had other offers but because of his family, he can’t just accept to move anywhere.

I only watched the beginning, but he sounded frustrated with the situation in Montreal and not getting minutes after putting in good performances. I think he has a point.

He tended to have an impact on games when he did get to play. Terribly underused player who showed a lot of promise early on in his career with Montreal. I remember this Canadian Championship match vs TFC pre-COVID in particular. He won MOTM honours as a RB when Laryea was also on the pitch.

ZBG is one of those guys who, if given a quality opportunity, has the tools to go far. As always, that may come with a bit of sacrifice in terms of location. But if he were open to more clubs, he could boost his career as a starter imo. 

[BearcatSA]

I am surprised nothing has come up for him.  I've always thought that he would be a good RWB/RB pick up for the Caps.  

[nolando]

4 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

I am surprised nothing has come up for him.  I've always thought that he would be a good RWB/RB pick up for the Caps.  

Agreed. I honestly  thought he was on the verge of becoming a semi-regular squad player for the national team even at one point there.

[Shway]

7 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

I am surprised nothing has come up for him.  I've always thought that he would be a good RWB/RB pick up for the Caps.  

Good replacement for Laryea.
But sadly he won't be picked up by an American team it seems. 

[BearcatSA]

4 hours ago, nolando said:

Agreed. I honestly  thought he was on the verge of becoming a semi-regular squad player for the national team even at one point there.

He's not a world beater by any stretch of the imagination:  he has gaps in his game that limit his ceiling but I feel he is a competitive and robust defender, he knows how to defend as a right back in a back four, and he can make offensive contributions (and he has had quite a few in Montreal, especially in 2022).  Axel, call his agent.  Make it happen!