The MLS Next Pro season is less than a week away and WFC2 have added some players. Let’s take a look at what those player’s MLS prospects are.
Nelson Pierre/19/ST
Nelson Pierre actually joins on loan from the Philadelphia Union. Why would Philadelphia loan a first-team contracted player to somebody else’s MLSNP team? Well, it seems Jonathan Tannenwald has the answer for us:
You can only stick one guy on a first-team contract at the reserves for the entire year, and that guy is Nick Pariano (for the second year in a row).At a certain point it's better to get reps somewhere else, especially if he's more likely to play there. Which I figure he is.
— Jonathan Tannenwald (@jtannenwald.bsky.social) 2025-02-27T21:12:03.802Z
Pierre’s career so far is a prime example of how the path forward for a young player is not always a linear one. In 2023, as a 17-year-old, he had a very strong season in MLSNP. He put up 4 goals and 6 assists in less than 1500 minutes and an impressive 0.61 xG+xA/96. If you just showed me that stat line at that age I would say that is a player well on his way to a strong MLS career. But last year things got a little bit more complicated. The Union loaned Pierre to Skövde AIK in the Swedish second tier where he only played 102 minutes in the cup. He was recalled from this loan and sent to USL League 1 where he played 126 minutes, but did manage to score a goal. So essentially Pierre is coming off a lost year.
In a vacuum, this is exactly the sort of profile I want to see added to WFC2. A young player who clearly has some juice but needs to take a step before he is ready for MLS. But the loan angle makes the arrangement less appealing to me. The press release does not mention any pre-arranged option to acquire Pierre permanently. So if Vancouver can get him back on track then they essentially developed an MLS player for Philadelphia in exchange for…what exactly?
In terms of play style, Pierre is a striker with size who seems to get shots from good areas and has some passing ability.
Mark O’Neill/22/CB
Technically this one happened a while ago, O’Neill was with the team in Spain for pre-season. O’Neill went undrafted but the WFC2 signed him as a free agent. Here is his data from Paul Harvey’s NCAA database:
Now, look, we are not getting a very complete view of this player. I don’t watch NCAA football and judging defensive play by stats is a lot harder than judging offensive contribution. But, I dunno, this guy looks pretty mid. He seems to be a decent threat off of set pieces and above average in progressing the ball. But you need to remember that he is being compared to college players here so how good is above average really?
The nature of MLSNP is that all of these players are, to one degree or another, a long shot. But is a 22-year-old with this kind of stat profile the best use of those developmental minutes? I’m not convinced but I’m open to a surprise.
Jackson Castro/22/W
Jackson Castro is also an undrafted 22-year-old free agent. He even played for the same team as O’Neill. But his data pops a little bit more.
Castro, who most played off the left wing, clearly provides a lot of value with his passing. He was amongst the best wingers in NCAA when it comes to setting up teammates and playing the ball into the box, he also provided a solid but not elite goal threat himself. He does not seem to be one for running with the ball. Here is how is total xG+xA/90 compares to some previous Whitecaps draft picks.
- Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau (Age 21): 0.92
- Simon Becher (Age 22): 0.88
- JC Ngando: (Age 23): 0.71
- Eliot Goldthorp (Age 21): 0.59
- Levonte Johnson (Age 23): 0.56
- Jackson Castro (Age 21): 0.55
So Castro looks like somebody who projects as a fringe MLS player if he hits the ground running in MLSNP. Of course, since he will be 22 in a league full of teenagers he needs to be utterly dominant right away to make it to the first team. But his domestic status will work in his favour to potentially slot into one of those supplemental roster spots.
Right-Back Thunder Dome
WFC2 also signed 2nd-round draft pick Nikola Djordjevic. I talked a bit about him when he was drafted so I won’t repeat that. But I did want to note that there are now a lot of right-backs kicking around this club. In the first team, you have Mathias Laborda, Edier Ocampo, and Giuseppe Bovalina. I would imagine we will see Bovalina drop down to WFC2 a fair amount if he isn’t loaned and compete with Djordjevic. Additionally, the Whitecaps sent two players to Canada U-17s at the recent CONCACAF qualifiers, Johnny Selemani and Sahil Deo. You would imagine these players would be in line for some WFC2 minutes this upcoming season. Well, guess what, they’re both right-backs! (though Selemani also plays on the wing). An interesting situation to monitor as the season progresses.
(Image Credit: Philadelphia Union)