However, with Ramsay leaving last month, there has to be some space in the budget for a new player. North End could be worst off taking a chance on Millar’s international teammate Zachary Brault-Guillard to assist cover for Potts and provide more natural competition.
The 25-year-old has eight caps for the North American team, appearing in games between 2018 and 2023. He went to the 2023 Gold Cup, indicating that he was at least performing well for his club team, CF Montreal of the MLS, at the time, though he won’t be surpassing Alastair Johnston of Celtic anytime soon.
The right-back, who was born in Haiti, has experience playing in Europe. He grew up in Canada and signed with Montreal after attending Lyon’s academy as a young player. He played 33 games for Lyon’s reserves.
Brault-Guillard’s contract with Montreal expired at the beginning of January, making him a free agency. Although he didn’t open the 2023 MLS season in the starting lineup, he became a fixture at wing-back in the second part of the season.
Brault-Guillard is an explosive player who is more interested in attacking than in defence. Given that his salary from the previous season was $319,000 (£253,471, or £4,874 per week), he appears to be very affordable for a team that is currently operating on a tight budget. Brault-Guillard could be the ideal temporary solution for PNE.
Lack of game-time is only negative factor for potential Brault-Guillard signing
There is only one drawback if PNE were to unexpectedly sign Brault-Guillard as their new right wing-back: he hasn’t played in a competitive game since late October.
That marked the end of the regular MLS season, and Montreal’s campaign came to a premature end because they were not able to qualify for the play-offs.
Though he had started eight of his previous nine games, Brault-Guillard was playing rather frequently before to that, so he will undoubtedly be eager to get going again.
The 2024 Major League Soccer season is about to begin, and he might be selected by a team on the other side of the Atlantic. However, if Millar makes a strong case to Lowe that he might benefit from having a new wing-back on that team, then Brault-Guillard seems like a decent choice to take into consideration.
Leave a Reply