CF Montréal have proven themselves to be a production line of young talent for European clubs in recent times, and it appears Natahan Saliba could be the next star to be plucked from Stade Saputo.

According to The Athletic’s Josh Kloke, the 19-year-old midfielder is attracting interest from clubs in Scotland and Belgium as a result of his impressive breakout season in Major League Soccer.

Saliba, who signed a two-year contract extension with CFM last December when he was still a reserve team player, made his first-team debut in Montréal’s 2023 season opener against Inter Miami. Since then, he has gone on to rack up 29 appearances for the club in all competitions, missing just seven games and only being left out of the matchday squad on two occasions.

He’s started 16 games in MLS in 2023, 13 of which have come in CFM’s last 19 games. He most often plays as a deep central midfielder, although he has also shown hints of being able to sit further back as a defensive midfield screen and also move further forward into a more attacking midfield role.

Sure, club captain Samuel Piette’s injury problems may have been a factor in Saliba getting so much gametime. But even with Piette fit again since early July, Saliba’s form has been a big reason why veteran defensive midfielder Victor Wanyama hasn’t even made it off the bench and onto the pitch in six out of Hernán Losada’s side’s last seven league games.

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“I showed [Losada] that he could have confidence in me and give me responsibilities on the field,” Saliba told reporters earlier this month.

Kloke says that the 19-year-old Longueuil, Queb. native’s consistency and maturity have continually interested clubs from abroad. Saliba is also on the radar of Mauro Biello, the former CFM player and coach, and ex-CanMNT youth coach who is currently occupying the men’s national team head coach role on an interim basis.

“[He] is a player we’re looking at,” Biello told The Athletic. “Young players are, for sure, part of the plan.”

If Saliba’s talent and progress do entice an official offer from a European club, he could follow in the footsteps of the likes of Djordje Mihailovic, Alistair Johnston, and Ismaël Koné, all of whom have left Montréal for a bigger challenge in Europe in the last 12 months.

For now, the focus will be on the task at hand. Saliba and Montréal are in a straight shootout for one of the two wildcard playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. With four games left of their regular season, CFM sit seventh. There’s little hope of them getting any higher, with a seven-point gap and an unfavourable game-in-hand discrepancy between them and Nashville in sixth. \

Instead, they are looking over their shoulder. CFM are tied on 37 points with eighth-placed New York City; behind that pair of teams are D.C. United on 36 points, New York Red Bulls and Chicago on 34, Charlotte on 33, and Lionel Messi and Co. on 32. The margin for error is razor-slim.

Saliba, who has played the full 90 minutes in nine of CFM’s last 12 league games, may well be back in the starting XI as CFM travel to Orlando City on Saturday. You can consider him firmly in the shop window.

Could he be linking up with the likes of Johnston, Victor Loturi, and other Canadians in Scotland or joining Tajon Buchanan in Belgium? It’s one to watch.