CF Monterrey is finalizing a deal to sign Diego Rossi from the Columbus Crew, and the move could send Columbus up to $8 million. Rossi arrived in 2023 and quickly became one of the Crew’s most productive attackers, so this is not a routine sell-off.
He has scored 51 goals across MLS, playoffs and Leagues Cup matches since joining Columbus. That production came after he won the MLS Golden Boot in 2020 with LAFC and before the Crew used him in two trophy runs, the MLS Cup title in 2023 and the Leagues Cup in 2024.
Rossi’s Columbus run
The transfer comes after initial contacts over a new deal, but the push toward Monterrey has taken over now. Rossi’s contract was set to expire after next year, which gave Columbus a choice between holding a valuable scorer for the short term or moving him while the market still had room to pay.
Columbus has a practical reason to act beyond the fee. The Crew can add two Designated Players after placing Wessam Abou Ali on the season-ending injured list, and the future of Daniel Gazdag is in question. If Rossi leaves, the club does not just lose goals; it also gains another opening to reshape the attack.
Columbus Crew roster pressure
The timing fits a broader transition. Laurent Courtois is the interim head coach after taking over in May for Henrik Rydström, and Columbus is 10th in the Eastern Conference, two points below the playoff line with four wins in 15 matches. The team also has 19 games left when MLS resumes in July after the World Cup break.
That makes Rossi’s exit more than a transfer fee exercise. Columbus has to decide how quickly it can turn up to $8 million and a Designated Player spot into immediate help, because the roster has been thin while the season has been sliding.
FIFA Fan Festival™ shifts El Gran Silencio to July 2 at Estadio Monterrey, Guadalupe sits on the schedule for July, but Columbus’s more urgent date is the reopening of its own season, when the club will need a new answer up front if Rossi is gone.
Monterrey and the summer market
For Monterrey, the deal would add a proven scorer in Uruguayan forward who has already delivered in MLS and continental play. For Columbus, it would trade a top producer for cash, roster flexibility and a chance to move faster in the summer market than it could with Rossi under contract through next year.
The clubs are still working through the final steps, and the shape of the transfer will tell Columbus how much room it really has to rebuild around the opening Rossi leaves behind.
