Montreal Impact's Clement Diop returns to France for personal reasons, return date TBD

Impact GK Diop returns to France for personal reasons, return TBD

Clement Diop - side profile -- Montreal

Montreal Impact goalkeeper Clement Diop has temporarily left the team to return to France for personal reasons, the team announced Wednesday evening. The date of his return to the team is yet to be determined.

Diop, 27, has been Montreal's No. 1 since Sept. 2019, and started every game of the 2020 regular season for the Impact. With the Senegalese international out, Thierry Henry handed an MLS debut to 23-year-old academy product James Pantemis for his team's Wednesday night clash with the New England Revolution (7:30 pm ET | TVAS, TSN5 in Canada, MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US).


Montreal's previous starting goalkeeper, 34-year-old Evan Bush, had backed up Diop for most of 2020, but was traded to Vancouver on Sept. 28. Another Homegrown, 19-year-old Jonathan Sirois, is the other goalkeeper on the Impact's roster and will serve as Pantemis' backup against New England.