Good Monday morning Caps fans. Hope you all had a lovely first weekend of 2025 and that your week is starting off well.
All quiet for the Caps over the weekend but expect a busy next week before training camp opens in Marbella. Or maybe I’m setting myself up for disappointment.
I’ll revisit an interesting point from Axel Schuster’s AFTN interview that I didn’t shoehorn into Friday’s column but wanted to.
Schuster repeatedly mentioned wanting to bring more Whitecaps 2 players through to the first team and to rely more heavily on those guys to shore up depth.
Now, this is probably in part cliche. No soccer executive has ever said they want to bring fewer young players through and its something fans, especially Whitecaps fans, have long placed a priority on.
But Schuster’s insistence on this makes me wonder of it was a point of contention with Vanni Sartini, who wasn’t exactly giving academy guys a ton of looks, aside from Ali Ahmed and Isaac Boehmer. This is probably in part a reflection on the quality of the Whitecaps 2 players available but Schuster said he thought the coaching staff wasn’t able to help give more attention to the young guys.
He name dropped Cyprian Kachwele as a guy he thinks can pick up more minutes to spell Brian White. Kachwele had an OK cameo in the Canadian Championship and I’d be curious to see more. But this is also a big signal to whomever the next manager is that they ought to be prepared to work with young players.
This is obviously not a sentiment anyone would object to. But the preseason training camp is always a nice chance for us sickos to read the tea leaves on young players. In light of Axel’s comments and the blank slate a new manager represents, there will be even more grist here than usual.
Best of the Rest
What should the Whitecaps’ resolution be for the new year?
Toronto FC is trying to part ways with Lorenzo Insigne, bringing the Italians Era to an end.
Jonathan David continues to have strong options for his next club in England, Italy or elsewhere.
Anytime we talk about academies and how many players they produce no one every seems to define what the target number is. I’m no expert but Ajax has produced 1-2 first team player per year out of their academy, which is one of the best in the world. Ours is probable somewhere in the middle. We produce a couple of players per year that are good enough for the CPL or the Scottish PL but only 4-5 good enough (over 13 years in MLS) for the first team or better.
i have been writing fregquently about either the Whitecap academy and its lack of quality that a head coach can tap into– or the head coach has no faith in the Whitecap Academy so why have the academy anyways– somethings gotta give– use the Academy in meaningful ways or get out of the development and see the world as your academy
and i only see 1 young player that has possibilities- Ocampo- but maybe we havent seen the promising Academy players because of Vanni’s blind-spot towards using them
finally Axel seems interested in the Academy and rightfully so – the area can produce quality players, just as good as other MLS team academies- i would look at changing the administrative staff who IMO are too inbred from the past
Whitcaps resolution on the field- get a head coach who can develop a better bench of players mixed with some Whitecap 2 youth who will get serious opportunities, a coach who can be tactically sound before and within a game, a coach who has MLS experience with some successes and a coach who can get Axel to sign 2 higher quality players – ITS NOT A TALL ORDER (still picking Jim Curtin who ticks all the boxes)
Whitecaps resolution off the field- a group of investors who have some ties to Vancouver and have ambition to tap further into this terrific market to fill the lower bowl– need lots of LUCK to get the investment team
as far as Jonathan David goes, Lille should get his contract done asap or make a deal before the transfer window closes, so they will get something back– $$$$- in the summer, he is gone for FREE- stay tuned as we will know this month or early February
poor TFC- over the past 5 years, always going for the BIG SWING and ending up with ‘egg all over their face’- Insigne has been a destructive force for negativism and divisiveness- Arrivederci- a new coach can start fresh- might be Sartini or Curtin or Savarese as a new head coach IMO– and i wouldnt be surprised if TFC goes on the selling block as MLSE look to alter their sports portfolio
i know, i know– its long-winded, but its my style and my passion for the beautiful game and the Whitecaps since 1974
I’m certainly not listening to a CEO discuss his views on bringing in other players. That’s not his job. He should focusing on building the framework to allow a pathway for players to come through, which the Caps do not have. Of course, everyone wants to see the youth progress through which saves any club a lot of money. But if the players aren’t there, then they can’t come through. Axel is not a judge on footballing talent
Axel should focus on the predatory nature of season ticket renewals and trying to lock in Caps fans on the sly.