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The Vancouver Whitecaps didn’t show Fredy Montero the money.

They showed him faith, and it was all the currency they needed to bring the three-time MLS all-star back into the fold.

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“They showed me that they wanted me. They showed me that they believed in me,” said Montero. “For me, it was about the loyalty that I felt when they were talking to me. That’s all I was looking for. That, and stability for my family and a long-term contract. The decision was easy for me and my family.

“It wasn’t about money. I had some (more lucrative) opportunities to go to the Middle East. I wasn’t thinking about that. My family is the most important thing in this time of my life and career.

“The past five years, we’ve been moving so much. North America, China, Europe, Colombia … it was a crazy five or six years, so it was time to settle down and get the stability I was looking for.”

Montero had a career year in Vancouver in 2017, scoring a single-season high 13 goals for the Whitecaps — the third-best total in team history — before making the move back to Europe and Sporting CP, the team he played for before making the move to MLS. He’d joined the Caps on a one-year loan from Chinese Super League club Tianjin Teda in 2016, but this time around, he’s Whitecaps property, signing through the 2020 season.