With Hutchinson out, are Caps still after a midfielder?
If you’re just joining us, the Vancouver Whitecaps were linked earlier this year to star Canadian midfielder Atiba Hutchinson.
“We were interested,” Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi admitted to podcaster Anthony Totera this week.
But the move didn’t happen. Hutchinson still has a year to run on his contract. Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber said in February the league was in favour of helping a Canadian club land a Canadian designated player, as the league had done before with the likes of David Beckham.
Eyebrows were raised, and attention immediately focused on Hutchinson, who had long been rumoured to be of interest to the Whitecaps.
The league was clearly willing to put up a transfer fee — reported in June to be around $5 million — but the move from Turkish power club Beskitas didn’t come to pass.
Why isn’t clear. Perhaps it was about salary, perhaps Besiktas wanted more, perhaps the 35-yearold Hutchinson was just happy in Turkey.
Whatever it was, the summer transfer window is still closing on Wednesday.
As it now stands, the Whitecaps are in the playoff mix. Three of their last four games have ended in impressive wins over NYCFC, Los Angeles and Dallas. Of course, there was the dismal home performance two weeks ago at B.C. Place Stadium ending in a 2-1 loss to Portland.
The soccer may not always enthrall and, at times, the Caps have frustrated through inconsistency, but despite everything this is a team that’s in a good spot and appears to be pulling things together. Sure, that’s as much about some poor play from their rivals, but the Whitecaps finally have some depth to work with and the recent performances can be tied to that.
But as head coach Carl Robinson always says, the team is always looking at adding players. They still may add a player or two.
So if not Hutchinson, would they still look to add a midfielder? This season, they’ve leaned heavily on Tony Tchani, Matias Laba and Andrew Jacobson. And there’s also Russell Teibert, though he has played just once in MLS action since the middle of May.
Robinson has said he likes to have 20 players in training — in other words, two players for each outfield position. He’s got four midfielders as it stands, so a signing would surely only be a player who might push one of the other three down in the pecking order. The transfer window has been open for a month, so it’s difficult to imagine such a player coming in at this late a date.
And with Yordy Reyna now healthy, there’s always a chance he slots into midfield, though his strengths are best suited to a forward role. Christian Bolanos has spent some time in the middle, too.
There’s clearly a need at centre back, where David Edgar was lost before the season to an off-field injury and Christian Dean has struggled with injury for most of the season.
It’s meant Jacobson has had to drop back from midfield more than once to play centre back.
Adam Straith, who trained this week with the Whitecaps after leaving FC Edmonton, could be an option, though Robinson said this week it was Straith who touched base with the coach about joining up to keep himself fresh.
Five days are left to ponder.