York9 Inks Impact Academy Youngster Cedric Toussaint

York9 FC has wasted little time in preparing its roster for the upcoming year, with the Canadian Premier League side announcing its second new signing of the week in 19-year-old midfielder Cedric Toussaint.

The Drummondville native has signed on for a two-year deal with further options, which falls in line with the future-forward mentality the club has employed on other former MLS Academy youngsters like Ijah Halley and Ryan Lindsay. He becomes the club’s seventh domestic player currently under the age of 21.

The five-foot-six midfielder joined the Impact Academy four years ago after developing at CS Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, and as recently as this September appeared for the club’s newly-announced U-23 squad led by Jason Di Tullio. He has trained with the Impact’s senior side, too.

The youngster has been described as a box-to-box midfielder with good passing distribution, which is certainly an area where York9 FC needs some reinforcing following the departures of Manny Aparicio and Joseph Di Chiara.

Cedric is another really talented player from Quebec that joins our squad and I’m very happy he’s shown such trust in us regarding his footballing future. He’s comfortable playing as a six or an eight and has a great passing range, something that Canada Soccer’s underage coaches have also been impressed with and why they continue to monitor him.

Angus McNab

Looking at the eighteen players on the York9 FC roster so far, that means the average age slides down to just under 22 – a two year average age drop than the 2019 Pacific FC squad. This offseason has seen the remaining players from the inaugural season drop from ten to three, with McNab having previously told fans the club would have no one to blame but itself if it didn’t make changes and failed to improve on its fifth-place next year.

Perhaps foreshadowing this transfer, last week McNab discussed the idea that CPL clubs needed to be opportunistic in their signing of players, specifically making mention of the Impact Academy and how the side were watching for talented players who, after the club’s analysis, deserved a chance at the professional level:

We need to be efficient and try to seek out edge where other people have missed out on guys. If someone is deciding to make a decision or pass on a player, we have to be ready and it has to be quite opportunistic if you want the honest truth, to take advantage of someone else’s decision making and be ready to go and get a quality player.

Angus McNab

York9 FC currently has eighteen players on the books for the 2021 Canadian Premier League season, though two of them won’t be returning from their overseas loans until June. The club has remained quiet on the possibility of returning players like Ryan Telfer, Roger Thompson, or Fugo Segawa (who has an option for 2021), with the Nine Stripes squad looking much-changed from the prior year.

Yesterday, the club shored up its goalkeeping contingent with the arrival of former Cavalry FC man Niko Giantsopoulos, who will challenge Nathan Ingham for a starting spot next season.

York9 FC did not disclose the financial terms of Cedric’s contract.