Every year, there are a lot of posts about which CPL players might make the jump to MLS. Many of these posts are, frankly, very silly. So, I am once again here to provide you with the definitive, sensible list of CPL players who are potentially interesting. This list is from a Whitecaps perspective, so it’s mostly aimed at filling positions on WFC2 where they don’t have an obvious prospect coming through (at least not one that I am aware of).

Tiago Coimbra 21/ST

This is Coimbra’s 3rd year on this list, and he has started to transition from a raw prospect with some interesting traits to someone who is a genuinely elite CPL player without qualifiers. He’s the only player on this list I wouldn’t necessarily want to see filtered through WFC2 first. Coimbra’s season was somewhat hampered by injury, but 13 goals and 3 assists in 1350 minutes is very impressive (though I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t point out that almost 40% of his goals came against Valour). He wins a lot of headers and gets a lot of shots. He also ticks quite a few boxes, the Whitecaps outside of his impressive outputs being young, Canadian, and having a high work-rate.

If we assume that moving from CPL to MLS knocks off 30-50% of his production. Well, if he hits the upper band of that drop-off, it puts him in a similar range to what Daniel Rios was doing last year. Coimbra does some similar stuff to Rios but is 9 years younger. However, there are a couple of reasons for caution. Firstly, Kwasi Poku got a 500k move to a Belgian club so I can only imagine what the Wanderers might ask for someone actually good. Once you get into the high six figures or low seven figures in transfer fees, you are leaving the realm of cheap punts and entering the realm of just a regular signing. I don’t think I would be that interested in Coimbra at that kind of fee.

The position of ‘young striker who might be something’ is also pretty crowded on the Whitecaps at the moment with Rayan Elloumi and Nelson Pierre in the picture. If you were going to add another striker you would probably want someone more proven. That said, if PSV’s rumoured interest in Elloumi comes to fruition, Coimbra suddenly makes a lot more sense.

Emrick Fotsing 18/CM

Emrick Fotsing had a strong first pro season with Vancouver F.C. He’s a long way away from serious MLS consideration but he is getting on the field and doing some stuff. He progresses the ball, wins the ball back, and gets active in the final 3rd at a fairly average level in CPL. But doing that at a young age and on a bad team is impressive.

The Whitecaps do have Yuma Tsuji, who is a somewhat similar player, but Fotsing provides a bit more in the opposition box, so I think he’s different enough to still be worth a look, if the fee is not unreasonable. I’d be looking for a Lowell Wright style transfer fee where the upfront cost is low but can end up being quite profitable for Vancouver F.C with performance bonuses.

Shola Jimoh 17/W

Shola Jimoh is on this list for the second year running. He didn’t take the explosive step forward you might have hoped for, but he is still generating a lot of chances, for other people at least, at a very young age. My big worry would be that the hype has exceeded his actual abilities at this point (he already has a national team call-up), and Inter Toronto will demand an outrageous amount of money.

Loic Cloutier 21/CB or Noah Abatneh 21/CB

WFC2 aren’t bringing back a single minute of centre-back play from their 2025 squad. Clearly some sort of outside addition is going to be needed. If you are looking at CPL players, one of Atletico Ottawa’s two 21 year olds makes a lot of sense. Noah Abatneh is more of a sweeper while Loic Cloutier is more of a ball-player. Sadly, Cloutier does not have a highlight package.

Joaquim Coulanges 19/LB

The WFC2 left-backs last season were a platoon of early 20s college free-agents who didn’t really impress. At the time of writing, it’s not yet known what is happening with Mihail Gherasimencov. But if he isn’t going to be around, WFC2 clearly needs somebody younger to fill that space and maybe develop into something. This is where Coulanges comes in. He is very much a long shot at this point, as he wasn’t even a particularly regular player in CPL last year. But when he did get on the field, he did some solid ball-carrying and had some decent offensive outputs without being embarrassed defensively.

(Image: Canadian Premier League)