Espindola’s departure creates striking hole in Whitecaps’ rotation
The Whitecaps still plan to add a striker this summer, ideally through another trade.
“If we could make a deal within the league, we’d prefer to do that,” Caps president Bobby Lenarduzzi said during his TSN 1040 “President’s Week” hit Wednesday.
“Having said that, we do have a couple of options outside the league.”
The summer transfer window closes Aug. 3, although the Caps would still be able to target players who aren’t under contract right up until the September roster freeze.
But as their awkward attempt to land Fabian Espindola showed, the focus is first on bringing in a player with MLS experience who can hit the ground running in a tight Western Conference playoff race.
The Whitecaps (8-8-6) are still seeking a forward because they transferred trade pickup Espindola Tuesday to Mexican club Necaxa.
Vancouver had sent allocation money to D.C. United for the 10-year MLS veteran, but with a young family and an expiring contract, he wanted more security.
The Caps chose to sell him on rather than extend an 18-month offer and Lenarduzzi has claimed the club doubled its money.
“From that point of view, it was a good bit of business,” Lenarduzzi said on TSN 1040.
Lenarduzzi also rejected suggestions the Caps didn’t do their due diligence on the deal by at least back-channelling with Espindola’s agent.
“We’re a club — and it comes from ownership down — that when we deal on issues, we deal straight up,” he said. “Given that, we couldn’t (talk to the agent, by the rules), we didn’t.”
Now it’s about what the Caps can do with a shorter time frame and a bit more allocation money.
If they can still deal for a forward who helps them in the short term, then the Espindola deal becomes more of a footnote.
If not? We could be revisiting this summer window for a while yet.