DAVIES THANKS HIS HOMETOWN SUPPORT SYSTEM

Star product of local minor soccer system about to achieve international stardom

Fonzie called.

The wonderful whirlwind and worldwide wave of attention focused on the 17-year-old soccer star from Edmonton had finally subsided. And Alphonso Davies was finally able to catch his breath and make the call from Atlanta.

Fonzie, or Phonsie, as he’s been nicknamed, said he has been wishing to speak to an Edmonton audience about what this city meant to him in getting to this day, when virtually every fan of the world’s game has now heard his name.

Last week, he was the focus of the largest transfer fee — reportedly between US$18 million and US$22 million — in Major League Soccer history.

After returning from Moscow where he was the impressive leadoff speaker for the successful Canada-USA-Mexico FIFA 2026 World Cup bid, he bounced around travelling from Vancouver to Philadelphia, with even a stop in Edmonton to get contract signatures from his parents Victoria and Debeah because his 18th birthday isn’t until Nov. 2.

Immediately after signing the deal with Bayern Munich at their camp in Philadelphia, Davies flew back to Vancouver to return to the Vancouver Whitecaps lineup after a two-week absence. There he played the greatest game of his career last Saturday, as he became the first MLS player since 2010 to record two goals, two assists and eight successful dribbles.

His brilliant re-entry for the remainder of the season as a “loan” player not only led the Whitecaps to a 4-2 win, but the goals were such brilliant works of art they were guaranteed to have left Bayern Munich fans drooling.

Up insanely early the next morning, he had to fly by himself to Atlanta for festivities leading up to Wednesday’s MLS All-Star Game against Juventus — he was the Whitecaps’ lone representative in the game.

Davies went into the all-star game before 72,317, the largest crowd he’d ever played in front of, in the 33rd minute and came out in the 62nd. He had a couple of nice runs and a couple of quality touches but didn’t threaten to put his name on the scoresheet.

He did, however, draw significant TV time and MLS commissioner Don Garber made him a big part of his halftime interview on the ESPN telecast, calling his Bayern Munich signing a “transformational” event.

Davies is taking a breath before flying to New York where he’ll be joined by his Whitecaps teammates for their MLS game at Yankee Stadium against New York City FC. Davies goes into the match as the league leader in dribbles complete with 93, duels won with 186 and sits second in total fast breaks with eight and tied for fifth in assists with 10.

Davies knows his happiness is not just shared by his parents and people who have helped his career as a kid and the players he played with, but with the people of Edmonton as well. And he wanted to make sure everybody back home knows that he knows.

He said he wants to share himself with everybody here during the December break before heading to Bayern Munich to begin his career in January.

One thing Davies said he’ll always be thankful for is Edmonton’s Free Footie program.

“My friend convinced me to come. I made the team. I can remember being really excited. Free Footie was a great program for me. I really enjoyed it.

“I want to thank the teams I played on, thank my parents and say thanks to Nick Huuseh,” he said of the Edmontonian who represented him in the latest dealings.

“I have had a lot of friends from Edmonton who’ve supported me throughout and are still supporting me now. I’m getting a lot of love from back home. I know everybody from back home is cheering for me.”

He said he’d have loved to spend even an hour with all of them when he made his visit back to town last week to get his parents signatures, but “We stayed about 30 minutes and left.” Whirlwind?

“I always dreamed of something like this, but to actually have it happen so quickly, sometimes I get a little homesick for my parents because I want to see them. But this is the life of my dreams. I’m being told I’ve become an inspiration to a lot of young soccer players in Edmonton and to me, that’s just awesome. For me it’s great to think that I could be the inspiration to those young kids like FC Edmonton players were an inspiration to me. I remember when they came out and did stuff with us and we got a chance to see how they played. I wanted to be one of them.”

DAVIES GETS BIG RAISE

People get confused with the concept of soccer transfer fees.

Davies doesn’t get the $18-$22 million from his transfer fee with Bayern Munich. The Whitecaps do.

But it meant a renegotiation of his $72,000 contract.

“Obviously, I get a raise that is significant,” he said.

Your correspondent inquired if he’s now making NHL money.

“I’m not sure what the hockey players make,” he said.

I explained about minimums and entry-level contracts, etc.

“Yeah, then it’s up there with them,” he said.