Good Friday morning Caps fans. Hope you all are having a lovely week and that your weekend is coming ever closer.

The Whitecaps got some brutal news this week, with the club announcing that Ryan Gauld will be out until April after undergoing a follow-up procedure on his knee. There were some fears about Gauld’s status after he missed the first preseason friendly earlier this week and it turned out our worst fears were confirmed.

We wish Gauldy a speedy recovery, and you have to feel for the guy, who has undergone a hellish last year recovering from injury and still didn’t look quite right in the Whitecaps playoff run last year. April isn’t that long in the grand scheme of things, but it certainly is starting to bring back bad memories of last year (I’m old enough to remember when Gauld was going to be back for the CCL final).

This certainly throws a wrench into the club’s plans to start the year, both in league play and the first CCL match next month against Cartagines. Gauld’s return made it easier to stomach shipping out Ali Ahmed and Jayden Nelson. Instead, they will have to once again rely on their depth. Bruno Caicedo, whose signing was made official this morning, will help.

The Caps reportedly aren’t done there, however, with the club reportedly taking in midfielder AZ Jackson on loan from a Polish club, where he moved after stints in Columbus, St. Louis, and Minnesota.

The move is a loan until the summer, but there is reportedly a buy option if things go well. It screams out as a short-term move, presumably at a low cost, to patch things up until Gauld returns, though I could see a world where Jackson makes it worth the club’s while to keep him around.

My sense in reading comments from Crew and St. Louis fans online is that Jackson would be a legitimately elite player if he puts everything together and consistently shows his skills — but that this hasn’t happened very often. His counting stats back this up, as his career high for goal involvements in a season is seven. His profile suggests he would offer something a bit different than Gauld or Thomas Müller.

This is the sort of player that Jesper Sorensen has been able to rehab. Ahmed had similar consistency issues, and he took the next step last year under Sorensen, to the point where he has been absolutely balling out in the Championship with Norwich. I don’t think we’ll see that type of leap with Jackson, but there is reason for optimism that Sorensen could turn him into a more dependable depth piece. This is exactly the sort of distressed asset pickup that the Caps have hit on in recent years.

The Caps navigated the absence of Gauld for an entire season with aplomb despite the general assumption that being down 1/3 of your DPs will catch up with you. Maybe it will this year. Hopefull,y this is the last hurdle needed to get Gauld back to form. In the meantime, we’ll see what sort of workaround Sorensen can figure out. After last year, he certainly gets the benefit of the doubt.

Shameless Self Promotion

Caleb takes a deep dive to look into what we can expect from the new arrival, Bruno Caicedo.

Best of the Rest

Joedrick Pupe is officially heading to Belgium on loan, though he has upgraded to first division side (and title contender) Sint-Truiden.

A full stream of this week’s friendly against Ukrainian side Polissya Zhytomyr, for sickos who would like to partake.

MLS is shedding Spanish language broadcasters for next season, a blow for those of us who prefer the vibes to the sometimes plodding English language commentators.

Are the Caps a legitimate ConcaChampions contender? Third feels a bit harsh on last year’s runner-ups but, hey, I get it.

The CPL is rebranding and, I have to say, the refresh looks nice.