TRANSFER TRACKER: Roster Update
With a new head coach in place and Alphonso Davies in Germany, the Vancouver Whitecaps are headed in a new direction. As such, the team announced it has exercised the 2019 contract options on seven players while declining the options on nine players.
Doneil Henry, Nicolas Mezquida, and Yordy Reyna were among the players who had contracts extended for next season while the likes of Kendall Waston, Efrain Juarez, Russell Teibert and others were already under contract. Waston, though, has been public with his desire to move on.
"This is the first of many offseason moves for the club as we build our roster for the coming season,” head coach Marc Dos Santos said in a media release. “Every decision we made today and will make in the future is based on our model of play, which defines the type of team we want to be. We’ve had to make a number of tough decisions, and we’re thankful to each of the players moving on for their contributions to the club. We’re excited about the roster flexibility we have as the process of identifying new targets is well underway.”
Brek Shea and Aly Ghazal were among the players who had their contracts declined, while leading 2018 goal-scorer Kei Kamara is out of contract, as is Cristian Techera, who was tied for second on the team in goals. Without Kamara, Davies, Techera and Shea, the club will be without four of their top five goal scorers from last season.
Jordon Mutch's one-year loan has expired as well.
