The Vancouver Whitecaps have acquired 24-year-old attacking midfielder Aziel Jackson (sometimes known as AZ) on loan from Polish side Jagiellonia. The loan is until “the summer” at which point the Whitecaps will have the option to make the transfer permanent should they desire.

Jackson has been an underachiever to this point in his career. He was a dominant player in MLSNP but has not been able to consistently show that ability at the next level. His first MLS minutes were with St. Louis and his first season actually was pretty respectable with 1 goal and 4 assists in a little under 1200 minutes. That’s not elite but, for a then 21-year-old, it’s more than fine. It even earned him a call-up to the US National Team, where he earned a cap in a friendly against Slovakia. But the following season he struggled, at least to start. He didn’t score any goals before being traded to Columbus, where he had a hot streak with 2 goals and 2 assists in 357 minutes. Last season he had a pedestrian 2 goals 1 assist in 733 minutes before being sold to Poland. He has scarcely seen the field since that transfer, hence the loan back to MLS.

Stats (Say the Line Bart!)

I was generally aware of Jackson before this move, but I can’t say I was watching him closely. So, when I read the comments on the MLS subreddit about how he’s talented but inconsistent, my first thought was “oh god, am I going to have to write another one of these?” It seems like “guy who has some skill but hasn’t been able to turn that into end product yet” is a profile the Whitecaps are obsessed with. Jayden Nelson and Kenji Cabrera were signings last year that matched this description, and imminent new signing Bruno Caicedo fits into that niche as well. But, after reviewing the stats, I think Jackson is something a bit different.

Here is his radar from his last MLS season:

Here is his radar from the previous season:

And for good measure here is the radar which is just that hot-streak with Columbus at the end of 2024:

Nelson, Cabrera, et al, all had a lot of progressive actions but had low xG and xA. But Jackson is pretty clearly not that; in fact, he’s almost the exact opposite. He seems to be the rare inconsistent young player who is only end product. Now, other than that hot streak with Columbus, he’s not exactly breaking the scale on that front either. But xG is pretty consistently his best thing across these radars.

The other thing he does really well is “passes over expected.” What this means is, according to ASA’s model, he completes passes at a higher rate than you would expect based on how difficult the passes he’s attempting are. It’s hard to know what to make of this because it only really translated into xA in 2024, and only a small amount of passing G+ in both seasons.

Getting a bit more granular, I think the shape of Jackson’s radar can somewhat be explained by where he gets the ball. Have a look at these charts that show where his touches and passes happen:

This is a player who is mostly getting on the ball once it’s already in the final 3rd. As such, there’s not that much more distance to cover once he has the ball. For the most part, this is not somebody like Jayden Nelson or Ali Ahmed who is going to be running long distances with the ball. This is somebody who is going to look to get on the ball near the opposition goal and make something happen in 2-3 touches. Vancouver, in 2025, was one of the top teams in terms of both xG generated and final 3rd entries. So, I propose to you that if there is anywhere in MLS where Jackson is going to work, it’s in Vancouver.

But, of course, we then have to ask if there is anywhere in MLS where Jackson can work. His best MLS season, 2024, saw him put up 0.38 xG+xA/90. That’s not bad by any means, but it’s far from being a game breaker. He’s also already played for a possession and field tilt heavy team in Wilfried Nancy’s Columbus Crew. Now he’s being unceremoniously loaned back to MLS after less than 200 minutes in Poland. I think this is the reason that the Whitecaps are essentially getting a free trial before committing serious resources to him.

Squad Building Update:

Jackson has mostly played either as a striker or as a #10, with a smattering of games on the wing and as an attacking #8. I’d imagine, with Muller in the #10 spot, he will mostly play on the wing in Vancouver. I wonder if the structure of the loan allows them to slot Jackson in on the supplemental roster. That would give the Whitecaps more flexibility, at least during the loan, because they wouldn’t need to move out any senior roster players to fit him in.

I have seen some people question the Jayden Nelson trade more as a result of this signing. I somewhat agree that keeping Nelson made sense if Ahmed was on the way out. It is true that at this stage, Jackson and Bruno Caicedo are a lot less proven than Nelson. But one thing I would say is this: If Jayden Nelson stayed and ended up not playing very much, that would be a story. If Jackson doesn’t play very much, it isn’t.

Lastly, neither Caicedo nor Jackson (the two signings we are currently aware of) requires the Whitecaps to tap into the GAM war chest. They are clearly keeping their powder dry for something. That something might just be new contracts of Sebastian Berhalther and/or Mathias Laborda. We also know Axel Schuster loves to make a splash in the summer transfer window. We also know there’s at least one more deal on the horizon, so maybe we see something happen there.