Montreal trades Hurtado to Crew, lack of vaccination cited

MONTREAL (AP) — CF Montreal has traded Erik Hurtado to the Columbus Crew for $200,000 in general allocation money, saying the fact the veteran American forward was not vaccinated played into the deal.

Montreal sporting director Olivier Renard said the MLS team was “satisfied” with Hurtado’s work, but his “situation was problematic.”

“Before proceeding, Erik also confirmed that he was not comfortable taking the vaccine, so we concluded this deal, which we felt was very satisfactory,” Renard said in a statement Thursday.

Hurtado joined Montreal as a free agent Feb. 16. He played seven games with Montreal, including two starts, recording one assist. Hurtado is a nine-year MLS veteran who has made 140 regular-season appearances (60 starts) with 19 goals and 11 assists.

“Erik is a versatile, powerful forward who has valuable experience in our league and provides us with another option on offense,” Tim Bezbatchenko, the Crew’s president and general manager, said in a statement.

Columbus has lost striker Gyasi Zardes to the U.S. national team for the Gold Cup while veteran forward Bradley Wright-Phillips has been dealing with a thigh injury.