York United FC has bolstered its offence by acquiring Canadian winger Massimo Ferrin from the Halifax Wanderers.
The 26-year-old has signed a one-year guaranteed contract, plus a club option for another year with York, which lost forwards Brian Wright and Mo Babouli to rival Forge FC in the Canadian Premier League off-season.
Ferrin scored six goals and added four assists in 28 appearances across all competitions for Halifax last season. He had nine goals and five assists in 27 games in all competitions in 2023, his first year with Halifax.
"Massimo is a top talent and he's been a target for a while now," York president Ricardo Pasquel said in a statement. "He brings so much to the table. He's a player that makes things happen in the final third and his goal contributions across the past two seasons in the CPL clearly tell that story. He's been a consistent performer and a constant threat.
"He's an impressive young man, a fantastic ambassador and will give everything for this club. Once again, he's a local player coming home. We talk so much about the elite talent that exists all around us here and we're immensely happy to include so much of it in our 2025 squad."
In other CPL news, Atletico Ottawa has signed Canadian defender Loïc Cloutier to a two-year contract with a club option for 2027. And Cavalry FC signed Calgary-raised St. Lucia international forward Caniggia Elva.
Ferrin joined Halifax after starring with Vaughan Azzurri in League1 Ontario in 2022 under current Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar. Ferrin scored 23 goals in 15 regular-season games to capture the League1 Ontario Golden Boot and league MVP, adding another goal in the playoffs during Vaughan’s undefeated run to the championship.
"Throughout my career, I've been all over North America and I'm extremely excited to have the opportunity to play at home," Ferrin said. "I thought having family and friends at all of my games was something only possible when I was a kid. Now it's a reality at the professional level. That's an incredible feeling and I can't wait to get started."
A native of Mississauga, Ont., Ferrin played collegiate soccer at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, where he was named team MVP in 2017, and Syracuse in 2018 and '19.
He signed with Loudoun United in the USL Championship, making 21 appearances in 2020. He also played in a friendly match for Loudoun’s parent club, D.C. United, scoring the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over Alianza FC from El Salvador.
Ferrin made 54 appearances in total for Halifax.
"After a thorough evaluation of our squad, we identified the need to add different profiles to our attack,” Halifax sporting director Matt Fegan said in a statement. “With Massimo entering the final year of his contract and expressing a desire to be closer to home, we worked to find a deal that allowed us to recoup our investment and free up salary cap space."
Cloutier, 20, has spent time with Ottawa before. He got an invitation to training camp last year and practised regularly with the first-team squad through the season while making 19 appearances for OSU Atletico, Ottawa's Ligue1 Quebec affiliate.
"Last year wasn’t easy, being on the field, and being around the guys in the dressing room was good but coming into game days, and not being able to play (was hard)," he said. "I worked hard last year and got the reward, but now the work must continue."
Cloutier, a Canadian youth international, came up through the CF Montreal academy and captained the club's under-23 side.
Born in St. Lucia, Elva grew up in Calgary and played for local club South West Untied before moving to Germany at the age of 18 to join VfB Stuttgart.
He went on to play for Stuttgart II, Wuerzburger Kickers, FC Ingolstadt and, most recently, Rot-Weiß Erfurt while in Germany. He made 184 appearances overall, with 25 goals and 27 assists.
“We are delighted to bring Caniggia home to Calgary," said Cavalry coach and GM Tommy Wheeldon J. "He is one of the best players to have come out of Calgary in recent years and has carved himself a very good career in Germany.
"Caniggia is an intelligent, creative attacker, with a great personality that will add another dimension to our attacking options."
The 28-year-old Elva has scored five goals in 12 appearances for St. Lucia, making his debut in October 2023. He previously represented Canada at the under-23 level and earned a call into camp with the senior side in 2017.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2025
The Canadian Press
