A Canadian football club, CF Montreal, has reportedly sold out one of their strikers for refusing to take the Covid-19 vaccine. The striker by the name Erik Hurtado was sold to Columbus Crew after he refused to be vaccinated.
According to reports, the Canadian side recently completed the sale in return for the equivalent of about £150,000 in general allocation money, sealing the exit of a player. Erik Hurtado only signed for the Canadian club in February, and he had only played seven games for the club before he was sold following the incident. According to Athletic sporting director Olivier Renard, he admitted that the player’s refusal to get jabbed ruled out cross-border travel was a key factor in the decision to sell him out.
The Canadian club, not wanting to lose on his sale, traded him to the Columbus Crew SC for $200,000 after Hurtado declined the COVID-19 vaccine. The team announced the deal, and the reason behind it, in the news. The team sporting director Oliver Renard explained Hurtado being unvaccinated made his situation “problematic” if the team wanted to return to Montreal to play games.
“There was some interest in Erik during the past few weeks, and we listened to the offers, even though we were satisfied with Erik’s work. Because he’s not vaccinated against COVID-19, his situation was problematic, and we started considering a trade when we got the confirmation that the team could return to Montreal.”
Before joining CF Montreal, Erik Hurtado played for Vancouver and Kansas City. His best season came in 2014 when he scored five goals in 19 starts with Vancouver.