The Vancouver Whitecaps have drafted some guys! If the history of second and third-round draft picks is any indicator then the safe money is that Eliot Goldthorp and Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau will never play a second of MLS football. But changes to the rules about who can be drafted and an international heavy draft class have meant a lack of consensus about who the best draft selections were. So the chances that a decent talent slipped through the cracks are probably a lot higher this year. So let’s sift through the information available on these guys to see if we can get a better idea of who they are. 

Eliot Goldthrop:

Goldthorp is an attacking midfielder, mostly a right winger but occasionally playing through the middle. He’s 22 and he’s English. Goldthorp made two senior appearances for Bradford City before spending some time in the English Non-League system and eventually making the move to the NCAA. In the season before he was drafted, he was sitting at around 0.5 xG+xA/90 when you discount penalties. Based on the Wyscout data available this is not too terribly far away from where JC Ngando and Levonte Johnson were. Obviously, I don’t know much about the different NCAA conferences or how much scoring is worth in each one. But Goldthorp’s numbers at least seem decently impressive.

In terms of style, he seems like he is a volume player. He takes a ton of shots and attempts a lot of crosses and dribbles. He is sort of reminiscent of Cristian Dájome. Based on his highlights package he seems to operate almost exclusively in wide areas so perhaps he’s a candidate to be converted into a wing-back. Conversely, the ‘Caps are pretty light on attacking midfielder prospects so there could be a chance for him to establish himself with WFC2. But based on the video it’s not totally clear to me he’s a fit with what the first team wants from that position. 

Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau

Apparently, you always have to write out all three names. It doesn’t seem to be hyphenated but every press release stylizes his name that way. In any case, Fleurieu Chateau is sort of an intriguing player. He’s a 21-year-old Canadian striker who was averaging 0.92 xG+xA/90 without taking penalties. For context, that’s a similar level of NCAA production to Simon Becher, who the Whitecaps picked in the first round back in 2022. You might assume that he must have been playing poor competition to slide so low but this is the same team the Whitecaps drafted Tim Parker from so the competition must be somewhat reasonable (or maybe not, I’m really flying blind here). So, how did somebody like that slide all the way down to the third round? Well, I think there are a few factors. The biggest is that almost all of that production came in substitute appearances. Why was a guy who scored so much starting from the bench so often? Because the year prior he suffered a major ACL injury and missed the entire season. I also believe he counts as an international for American MLS teams as he never played for any of the approved academies in Canada. So gambling that his health fully recovers makes a lot more sense for the Whitecaps than it might for other teams.

I think he also technically has another year of NCAA eligibility thanks to that injury (I don’t know, don’t yell at me). So there’s the possibility he goes back to school and the Whitecaps are just squatting on his rights. This is a move they have pulled before when they drafted Swedish defender Buster Sjoberg in the 3rd round last season. Sjoberg was widely considered a first-round talent but had suffered a serious injury that meant he had decided to play another season in the NCAA. The Whitecaps decided to gamble he would recover and snapped up his rights with a late pick. According to an article on the Syracuse website, Sjoberg will be joining the ‘Caps for pre-season in 2024. But if Fleuriau Chateau does decide to join the Whitecaps straight away, the striker is a position where WFC2 needs more depth. At the moment there is Lowell Wright who is probably on his last chance to live up to the hype and Cyprian Kachwele who’s level is hard to gauge based on his previous resume. Some more competition would not go amiss.

In terms of actual style Fleuriau Chateau is very reminiscent of Becher. He scores his goals through off-the-ball movement and getting in behind opposing defences.

Will either of these selections feature in the Whitecaps’ plans in 2024? We’ll just have to wait and see.