Familiar faces greet new Whitecaps goalkeeper
Incoming netminder has strong ties with fellow goalie and pair of coaches
The gang is back together again. For a while, at least. On Monday, the Vancouver Whitecaps traded a third-round pick in the 2021 Major League Soccer SuperDraft to acquire 34-yearold goalkeeper Evan Bush from the Montreal Impact, reuniting him with Marc Dos Santos, Youseff Dahha and Max Crepeau, with whom he has long-standing and close relationships.
Ten years ago, when Dos Santos was coaching the Impact, he gave Bush, then 24, his first start. Dahha was the team's goalkeeper coach, the same role he has with the Caps, and Crepeau a fresh-faced, 16-year-old Academy product when Bush arrived in Montreal, not the battle-tested 26-year-old No. 1 he is now.
“I love Max. He's like a younger brother to me,” said Bush, who has joined the team in Portland and, barring any last-minute positive tests, begins training today.
“When I first got to Montreal, he was 16 years old. I remember sitting and watching him play a friendly with Youseff — it was my first couple of weeks in Montreal — and he says `Hey, you see that guy out there? That's my baby.' So I knew that they had a great relationship before I showed up. And we continued that throughout the years,” he said, adding he had coffee with Crepeau when the Impact visited Vancouver last month and made him the first call when negotiations were coming to a close.
With Crepeau still recovering from July surgery on a broken thumb and backup Thomas Hasal's injury status taking a turn for the worse last week — he has a fractured tibia and concussion, and is out for a minimum of four weeks — the Caps turned to what seems their No. 1 source for goalkeepers: Montreal. They acquired Crepeau
from the Impact before the start of 2019, utilized Jonathan Sirois as an emergency backup on a onegame loan at the MLS is Back tournament, and now have brought in Bush to compete with Bryan Meredith for the starting role.
Bush's relationship with the current Whitecaps was a big factor in him joining Vancouver. While he hadn't played a game this year, the 10-year Impact vet could have been content just to sit and rake in the cash, a US$294,000 budget charge last year.
“That relationship was certainly a big part of why I even heard out the discussion,” said Bush, who first heard of Vancouver's interest on Friday night.
“I've always had a great level of respect for Marc — he was my first coach in Montreal, he was the one who gave me my first opportunity initially in Montreal — I've always had great admiration for him.
“I'll be interested to see what the progression has been on his end, when we sit in a group tactical discussion, but I imagine it's only gotten better. He's had a lot of success everywhere he's stopped, and it's been for good reason.
“The first person I met in Montreal that year was actually Youseff. He's quite a person, a great guy. I've had an unbelievable relationship with him for many years. Some of my best years as a pro were under his tutelage. They've both played important roles in my time, not only with them in Montreal, but when I carried on after that.”
While the Quatro Amigos may be back together, it creates a logjam at the position down the line.
Crepeau and Hasal will return to the lineup next season, Meredith is still in the mix and Bush has a large cap hit.
Even though his budget hit will be defrayed by a salary holdback, with Montreal absorbing some of that cost, the goalkeeping roster will look completely different come next season.
“It's not the position and not the time where you bet on something, so we took our decision,” said Whitecaps CEO and sporting director Axel Schuster, who began the process last Tuesday. “We are very happy to find a guy that for a lot of reasons fits very good (with) us.
“We did that now, because we need a solution for now, but I can guarantee you that we are not planning any scenario with all three goalkeepers next year. We have been very open with every (one) of them in the conversations. So we will not end up with having all three goalkeepers next year.
“Who knows (what the solution is)?” he added. “I can only say that we will not start the next season … with those three goalkeepers into next season. It can be that somebody is loaned out, it can be that somebody is traded, it can be that somebody is sold. All solutions are open. But you can take me by the word that we will not have all three goalkeepers under contract (when) we start into the season next year.”