Good Monday morning Caps fans. Hope you all had a lovely weekend and a happy new year when the time comes later this week.
In our last column of 2024, I wanted to thank all of you for following along for what wound up being a pretty wild year. 2025 will bring us a new coach, new players and, likely, a new owner. Quite a time to be alive.
The biggest bit of news over the weekend was confirmation of what we already largely knew: Fafa Picault has played his last match as a Whitecaps player. He confirmed as much by thanking Vancouver fans in a post over the weekend.
Fafa leaves after a tremendous season that surpassed anyone’s reasonable expectation. He turned out to be an excellent fit with the Caps’ counter attacking style and a solid partner to Ryan Gauld and Brian White in the attack.
Still, given that the Caps might have a different tactical look next year, committing money after a career high year to an aging player who might not even fit your new play style doesn’t make a ton of sense. The Caps should be trying to find the next Fafa Picault, rather than resigning this one.
And for Fafa’s part, you could see him wanting to move on from the west coast amid rumors he was a bit homesick. His rumored move to Inter Miami makes a lot of sense from that perspective (plus the whole playing with Messi thing).
For Vancouver, finding a complimentary attacking piece who makes sense in whatever the new tactical style is should be the top priority. A U-22 signing would be nice but I don’t think is sufficient. Most of those younger players don’t hit right away and with the clock ticking on this core of players, Vancouver doesn’t have time to waste. With an international roster spot likely free after the Caicedo transfer, there is slight wiggle room here. It’ll be interesting to see what Axel Schuster and Co. cooks up.
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It looks like Atletico Ottawa is closing in on their next head coach.
Promise David’s strong form in Belgium is making some wonder about whether a Canada call up is in his future.
with the moving on of Picault and Caicedo- speedy attackers- i assume with some hope that Axel will be bringing in a speedy attacker who can link up with Gauld and White – we need width and skill
We really need a coach ASAP!
i remember the days when we were hard-pressed to have one quality striker who played in europe- now we are getting flush with an array of talent- Canada is building significant A and B teams
Jesse Marsch is proving to be astute signing as our head coach