D.C. United announced today that they signed Canadian defender Maxim Tissot to the club after his successful trial during this preseason. Tissot joins the team after spending the back half of 2016 with the Ottawa Fury (then of the NASL) after being waived by the Montreal Impact. Tissot, having made his full debut for Canada in 2015, has 12 caps.
Tissot is mainly deployed as a left back, but is capable of also playing in the midfield. He signed a homegrown player contract with the Impact in February 2013, spending the next four seasons with the Quebec-based club. He was then waived by the Impact in June 2016, as the club cleared the necessary roster space to bring in David Choinière.
Following his departure from Montreal, United brought Tissot in for a trial last July. Though they were impressed by the 24 year old, United opted to make moves up top instead, addressing the lack of goals that plagued the team for the first half of the 2016 season. Tissot joined up with the Fury, and appeared in 19 games, scoring two goals while playing more often as a left midfielder.
With the offseason retirement of Luke Mishu, coupled with Chris Korb’s inability to return from his ACL injury, United needed some depth behind Taylor Kemp at left back. Tissot was brought back in for United’s first preseason camp in Florida, impressing enough to earn the contract offer.
Tissot was absent from the first week of the second preseason camp, having gone back to Canada to get a work visa. That process was delayed more than United would have hoped for, but Tissot flew down to Florida, and joined up with the team earlier this week.