Caps confident they’ve got bargain in Emnes
Team signs Dutch national knowing the forward has serious skills — along with something to prove
Like your retired grandparents who sift through rack upon rack of clothes at Value Village on seniors’ day on their endless quest for the ultimate deal — “Look at these jeans! They’re only $2.99, and they still have the tags!” — the Vancouver Whitecaps are the serial bargain hunters of Major League Soccer.
While their lone ‘Monet in a garage sale’ moment will forever be the development and ultimate sale of Alphonso Davies, they have actually unearthed a couple of Andy Warhols over the years.
Cristian Techera, Kendall Waston and Yordy Reyna were all unproven talents before they were brought to B.C., and all have evolved into key contributors. This week, Caps once again dug deep into the bargain bin to find Dutch national Marvin Emnes, signing the out-of-contract forward to a deal through the end of the season, with club options through 2020.
It’s a low-risk, low-exposure move for the club, which had the cap space and international spot open after Bernie Ibini moved abroad to a club in the United Arab Emirates last month.
Emnes brings a wealth of experience in the U.K., having played 41 games in the Premier League with Swansea City and Middlesborough, and 166 appearances in the second-tier League Championship. He has skill, he has talent, but he also has question marks.
The 30-year-old scored once at the EPL level, and 31 times in the Championship, but 14 of those goals came in a single season — his 2011-12 campaign with the Smoggies. Since then, he’s had just 10, and never more than five in a season.
He tried a change of pace by signing a three-year deal with Turkish side Akhisar Belediyespor last summer, but the experience turned sour for him after a few months and seven pointless appearances in the Super Liga. They parted ways in April, and he’s been looking for a team since.
Whitecaps coach Carl Robinson was happy to take a chance on signing the Dutchman after speaking with Owen Coyle, Emnes’ former manager at Blackburn, and Kei Kamara, who played with Emnes during his loan spell in 2013-14 at Middlesborough.
“He’s probably lost his way a little bit, and we’re in the market for people that we’re trying to put back on track,” said Robinson.
“Sometimes, whether it’s the manager, it’s the club, whether it’s the country that you’re in, it’s the style of football … when everything is going great, you look like a million dollars as a player. When you don’t, and you’re not in the team, you face a little bit of adversity and sometimes you lose your way.”
He hopes Emnes might follow the same path as Reyna, who has five goals and nine assists for Vancouver this year. The Peruvian moved abroad to Red Bull Salzburg from Alianza Lima on a $3M transfer in 2013, but never found his form there, getting loaned out three times to lower-tier teams.
“Yordy Reyna lost his way in Red Bull Salzburg. He wasn’t playing, he was finding it very hard to get back in, and $400,000 later, we end up signing the player,” said Robinson. “It was a great bit of business for us.
“Sometimes different environments, different coaches, different voices help players. Marvin wants the enjoyment back in his football, and I can certainly give him that. When I spoke to him, and explained the process in which we work … it was an easy decision for him.”
Emnes went through his first training session with his new team Friday, a day after flying in from Rotterdam where he’d been training with his former team, Sparta Rotterdam, to keep fit.
Most of his off time has been spent sleeping off the jet-lag, and he’d yet to get out to tour his new city.
Emnes admittedly didn’t know much about his new team or MLS, his research limited to a few videos and talking with Robinson, but he had been hoping to make a fresh start and jump-start his career again.
“It’s still pretty new for me. I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes,” said the soft-spoken forward, who can play any of the four attacking positions.
“I wanted to try something different, so I went to Turkey, and it was a funny move. It started out nicely, and then, after a couple months, things completely changed. That’s why I chose to move away from there, and try something new, in MLS.”
Whether Emnes becomes the next Reyna or Nosa Igiebor, the Nigerian midfielder who came in late last season and departed shortly after, will become clear over the final seven games of the season.
“He’s got something to prove,” said Robinson. “Marvin has got the quality that we like, and we’ll see over the next few months. It’s a real low-risk signing for us … he’s here until the end of the season and we’ll make a decision then.”