Montreal CF attacking midfielder Djordje Mihailovic was finally confirmed as a future AZ Alkmaar player today, with the Dutch team acquiring his services until mid-2027.
The Florida-born midfielder had traveled to Alkmaar over the weekend to finalize the deal, which was finally confirmed by the Dutch club today.
According to the press release from the Eredivisie mainstays, Mihailovic will finish out the current MLS season with Montreal before heading across the Atlantic in January, and has signed a contract running through the end of the 2026-27 season.
Despite having some untimely injury setbacks in the current season, the former Chicago Fire youth product has been one of the MLS-based American players who has most often appeared on the radars of European clubs.
He spent several weeks in the winter training with Serie A club Bologna along with a pair of additional Montreal players, however still stayed with the Canadian team following the winter transfer window.
AZ had hoped to secure his services immediately, however their sporting director Max Huiberts explained that a January move was the only option on the table.
“You would ideally like a player to be able to join immediately,” Huiberts explained in the team’s press release. “We tried that too, but it was out of the question for Montreal.”
“They are in the final phase of the competition and then play the play-offs. In the end, we came to an agreement and Djordje will be eligible to play for us at the beginning of January and perhaps he will join us earlier to train.”
The deciding factor for the exact timing of Mihailovic’s move overseas will be whether he is selected for the USMNT roster headed to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup. With the MLS Cup final set for November 5, he will either be on a plane to the pre-Qatar training camp, or to the Netherlands in November.
He had received a major boost to his Qatar chances in May when he was initially selected by Berhalter to participate in a pair of friendlies and the first two CONCACAF Nations League games, however an ankle injury in the final game before reporting kept him out of those games, and off of the field until recent weeks.
While neither Montreal nor AZ revealed the transfer fee, it is rumored to be in the neighborhood of $6 million.
Currently, AZ are still perfect after two games in Eredivisie play, and almost assured of qualification to the group stage of the Europa Conference League.
