After lengthy negotiations
Vancouver Whitecaps have finally found their number 10. On DAY the Major League Soccer club announced that they have signed Ryan Gauld from Farense. The Scottish playmaker agreed to a Major League Soccer Designated Player contract through 2024. Transfermarkt understands that Gauld will earn in the region of $3 million at the Whitecaps.
The deal has been in the works for some time, but contractual problems with the Portuguese side have held a deal back. Those issues included a dispute over the legal interpretation of a clause in Gauld’s contract. The Gauld camp believed that the midfielder would be a free agent following Farense’s relegation from Liga NOS. The club, however, had a different interpretation and claimed that the 25-year-old remained under contract until 2025. Vancouver paid a small fee in the region of €350,000 to avoid a lengthy legal battle.
“We are very pleased to welcome Ryan to our club,” Vancouver Whitecaps sporting director Axel Schuster said in a club statement. “We identified Ryan at the attacking midfield position early in the offseason and began our formal pursuit at the start of January. It was a complicated process due to several factors but as he was our top target, we never gave up.”
Gauld the solution for Whitecaps? – Dos Santos “player with verticality”
“When we finally have a number 10, he could also be a guy that could make those diagonals behind those guys,” Marc Dos Santos said to Transfermarkt following the 0-0 draw against Houston Dynamo on Jul. 20. In that game, the wingers Déiber Caicedo and Cristian Dájome created countless chances, but there was no player in the middle who could convert the chances. “The number 10 or attacking midfielder we are trying to finalize also has verticality, not only with his run but also with his pass.” Dos Santos did not admit it at the time, but that player he spoke of was Gauld, and the hope is that the 25-year-old can add significantly to Vancouver’s attack
