With a new coach coming in shortly, and with Greg Klazura currently confirmed as the only player no longer a Vancouver Whitecap, the new man at the helm will need to quickly evaluate all of the remaining players to see if they will be a part of this club moving forward.
Whilst some will be secure, there are certainly big question marks surrounding others and the new coach will face something of an immediate defensive dilemma as soon as he takes over.
With Jay DeMerit's contract ending and Andy O'Brien confirmed to a one year extension till the end of 2014 as recently as August, the question many are asking is will the next manager keep both of the ageing centrebacks around or just one of them. And if it's the latter, who will survive the chop?
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Here are my concerns around keeping Andy O.
<b>The Good If He Stays</b>
- Added depth at the CB position
With all the injuries last season we saw how much depth can be a factor in the gruelling MLS season. Even though last year was a freakish season for all the bad luck the Whitecaps centrebacks had, it can easily happen again.
- Leadership
With the retirement of YP Lee the only current defenders with a lot of experience at a high soccer level are Andy and Jay. Leveron, Mitchell and Rusin are still young and haven't played at any level higher then MLS. Harvey has a few more years in the MLS but not as much overall experience as DeMerit and O'Brien.
<b>The Bad If He Stays</b>
- His salary
He is signed for the next year but at what price? We wouldn't know the hard number and how it may have affected other signing efforts until next May (I still don't see why it takes so long to release these numbers. I believe it is so someone can have more time to hide a real salary number of a certain Sounder!). You have to think it is in the $200,000 to $275,000 range. That's a lot of money for a player that barely played in the last two months of the season.
- Chemistry
In the last few games of last season we saw DeMerit and Mitchell play really well together. Is this something a new gaffer wants to have continue to develop? They played well off one another and were starting to gel as a solid centreback unit. With those two starting and a young player who got a lot of MLS experience last season, Johnny Leveron, waiting on the bench, I believe that is a good rotation moving forward.
- Leveron or O'Brien
Who is the first sub off the bench when the injuries, suspensions or poor form hit? With a 12 year age gap and Leveron showing all the promise filling in last season, who do you give more minutes to? At Leveron's age he needs good minutes to develop. They need to get these younger players minutes to continue moving forward.
<b>If He Leaves</b>
- Value
With him being under contract for another year it might make him easier to trade within the MLS. There are plenty of teams that would give up a SuperDraft pick or allocation money for an experienced player they can use during a playoff run.
They also might be able to get a decent MLS level transfer amount from a European team. The money could be put towards bringing in a young midfield Designated Player.
- His Salary Won't Count
One of the most silly things in MLS is not having a long term injury list where the salaries are automatically not counted against the cap. When DeMerit went down last season that was $375,000 on the books for 80% of the season that handcuffed the team. With Andy's age and the wear and tear he showed last season. We could be one hamstring pull away of what happened to DeMerit happening to him. Sure it could happen to anyone, any age and anytime. But with all the games, minutes and miles he has on his body he does have a greater chance of being injured.
Only Time Will Tell
Whatever happens this upcoming season with all the players and what a new manager will do with them is going to make next year interesting to say the least.
There are a lot of decisions to be made. And the sooner the Whitecaps get the right person in to start making them, the better.
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