Cologne official: Signing Montes from the A-League champion Saint Giros to 2028

Hupu September 1st News Cologne officially announced that it will complete a signing before the summer transfer window is closed. 28-year-old wing player Alessio Castro-Montes has joined from Belgian champion San Giros and signed with the team until 2028.

Cologne Sports Director Thomas Kessler said: "With Montes joining, we have strengthened the wing again as planned. He is a versatile player with international experience, excellent football quality and extremely high game wisdom. In the exchange, he made it clear that he hopes to show these advantages here and prove himself in the Bundesliga. We are very happy with his choice and believe that he will help us achieve our goals, both as a player and as a personality. A stable Bundesliga season."

Montes said: "I chose Cologne because it is a truly great and cool club with a huge fan base. And playing in the Bundesliga has always been my dream, so it is an excellent step in my career. I look forward to this challenge and first hope to help the team stay in the Bundesliga."

Montes was born on May 17, 1997 in Saint-Treden, Belgium. His father is Espanyol and his mother is Belgian. He started playing football at VV Gelmen, then received training in the standard Liege and Anderlecht youth training before returning to his hometown club Sant Traden and made his professional debut against Charleroi at the end of the 2015/16 season.

Since then, he has played for Europa League (2 goals in 39 games) and Ghent (182 games 15 goals and 22 assists). Since the 2019/20 season, he has accumulated rich international experience in European competitions (Europa League, Champions League qualifiers, UEFA Cup). In the 2023/24 season, he transferred to San Giros and won the A-League championship with the team (23 goals and 5 assists). He has played for the team five times so far this season.