MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact announced on Tuesday that the club will exercise its contract option on Designated Player Marco Di Vaio and that the Italian forward has agreed to return with the club in 2014.

“I am very pleased to be back with the Impact in 2014,” said Di Vaio. “After discussions with my family, it was clear that I wanted to keep playing and I am happy to be in Montreal for another season.”

“We are extremely pleased that Marco decided to stay with us,” declared Impact president Joey Saputo. “He is a player that has lived up to the expectations we had when we brought him in as our first ever Designated Player.”

In his second season in MLS, Di Vaio currently leads the league in goal scoring with 19 in 30 games played, 28 as a starter, for a total of 2,476 minutes. He also tops the league in shots on goal and is tied for second with five game-winning markers.

Di Vaio, who has four multiple goal games this season, is one of just six players to have recorded a hat trick this season, on May 25 against the Philadelphia Union.

“I am happy to be in Montreal for another season.”

- Marco Di Vaio

He also took part in the MLS All-Star Game, and was chosen by the fans as the Videotron Player of the Game on seven different occasions in 2013.

Marco Di Vaio is one of the most prolific goal scorers in Serie A history, having found the back of the net 142 times in 342 games played in Italy’s top flight, with the likes of Lazio, Bari, Salernitana, Parma, Juventus, Genoa and Bologna.

MARCO DI VAIO

Position: Forward

Height: 5’11’’

Weight: 172 lbs.

Birthdate: July 15, 1976, Rome, Italy

Place of residence: Bologna, Italy

Former club: Bologna (Italy)

Acquired: May 22, 2012