Retooling Whitecaps suggest Blondell signing the first of many moves
The Whitecaps may have made a million-dollar move, but they’re not done.
On Thursday, the club announced they signed 23-yearold Venezuelan striker Anthony Blondell, paying a transfer fee of between $1.3 million and $1.5 million to Monagas SC of the Venezuelan premier league.
The six-foot-one forward scored 23 goals this year for Monagas SC, who had the best Primera Division season in the club’s history in 2017. They won the first half of the season, known as the Apertura, and finished in the semifinals in the second half. That landed them a coveted spot in the Copa Liberatadores, South America’s equivalent of the Champions League and one of the world’s toughest club competitions.
There’s little doubt Blondell, who previously struggled for playing time with Venezuelan giants Zamora, was a big part of that.
Now the question is: Can he repeat 2017’s success in 2018 while playing in a much tougher league?
“He’s hungry to learn. We’re buying his potential,” Caps coach Carl Robinson said. “He wants to learn, and there’s a huge upside on him. We have to make sure we put the pillars in place to allow him to be settled, enjoy his football, and also develop. And I think we have the right characteristics here.”
Big, quick and physical, it’s clear the Caps hope they’ve found a Fanendo Adi type. The Portland striker has caused nothing but trouble over the years for Vancouver.
The understandable fear from Caps fans is Blondell will turn out to be just another Octavio Rivero, or worse, another (gasp!) Mustapha Jarju.
Blondell isn’t the end of things for the Whitecaps this off-season, they insist. He’s going to be just the beginning.
That’s why, though he called Blondell “a highly sought-after player with huge potential,” Robinson was also quick to damper pressure on his new signing.
The club is after another striker: if not a return of Fredy Montero, then a similar kind of player.
The Montero question is all about what Tianjin is after and what the Caps are willing to bear. That makes it a likely long shot, but we know there’s already a fine match there, so why not chase it as far as you can?
Even so, the club has spent a pile on bringing Blondell in. There’s going to be expectations.
To be a true contender in 2018, the Whitecaps must be able to play more than one way. The approach in 2017 took them far, but when they ran into a Seattle team that simply didn’t commit fouls and thus offered few set-piece opportunities, the Caps were done.
“He’s going to be a different option (for us),” Robinson said. “I want to carry three forwards next year, and it’s really important you have different options. Last year, I think we were as successful as we were because of the squad we had, and when I rotated it, the balance was good. This will bring a different type of balance.”
The Caps have never had an Adi type. They’ve been mostly after pure speed up front. Montero was fantastic in the role he was asked to play, but he’s more of a false nine or trequartista, a forward who drops deeper and helps set up teammates as much as tries to score goals.
Adi is more of a poacher, a guy who has a nose for the net and keeps central defenders on their toes.
Go ahead and watch all the YouTube highlight videos; is Blondell that guy?
The Whitecaps sure hope so.