Luis Montes Incoming?

I had planned to write up something about the experience at DSG this week but actual news takes precedence.  Maybe next week during the international window I'll get to it.

Over the last couple of days there's been talk about Mexican international Luis 'Chapo' Montes leaving Liga MX side Leon for MLS.  The Rapids have been talked about as a possible destination but today the Mexican newspaper Record reported that Clib Leon and the Rapids have a verbal agreement to make Chapo a "franchise player" (per Google Translate).  I'm not sure if this means a DP or as somebody we could buy down with TAM.  The first would necessitate doing something with Juan Ramirez before we sign Montes.  Either way, he'd be a highly paid player for us.

Luis Montes is a #10 who's spent his entire career in Mexico mainly with Pachuca and Leon.  He's been with Leon, first on loan, since 2011.  Chapo turned 31 earlier this month so he has a couple of seasons at the top his game left (hopefully).  He has 32 goals in 175 appearances for Leon.  He's also been capped 19 times for Mexico and scored 3 times, his first being in a Gold Cup match at Sports Authority against Martinique in 2013.  He was badly injured in the run up to the 2014 World Cup breaking his tibia and fibula and as such missed that tournament.

In the 2016/17 seasons in Mexico he played 2262 minutes and had 5 goals and an assist.  This was a decrease from the season before where he had 1 goal and 13 assists in 3149 minutes.  In limited playing time the season before after recovering from his injury he had 3 goals and 2 assists in 828.  All told that's 9 goals and 16 assists in 6439 minutes of league play since his injury.  One goal every 715 minutes and one assist every 400 are not stunning numbers.

I think if we sign him as a player we use TAM on aside another larger signing up top this could be a good signing.  He fills a need, getting a #10 would allow us to go back to the 4-5-1 somewhat more successfully, and as the "secondary" signing there wouldn't be as much pressure on him.

My concern is that this is the "big" signing from the Rapids in the summer window.  If that's the case he won't be able to get the job done alone unless he finds an unexpected spark.  He'll probably sell tickets, being a Mexican international, but he won't be able to drag this team to the playoffs alone.

EDIT: :Literally as soon as I posted new news broke that the Rapids and Montes have agreed on a 3 year 3 million dollar deal.  Translation is rough, if that's $3 million per year that makes him a clear DP and a poor move IMO.  If that's $3 million total, so $1 million a year, maybe we have enough TAM to buy him down and leave the DP slot available for other improvement.  I hope that's the case.