Davide Chiumiento is no longer a Vancouver Whitecap.
The fan favourite has secured a move back to Switzerland with Swiss Super League side FC Zurich for an undisclosed fee, having had previous spells playing with Young Boys and Lucerne.
"I have really enjoyed my time in Vancouver and I would like to thank the fans, the club, and my teammates for all of their support," said Chiumiento. "It’s been two great years but now I look forward to the next chapter of my career, which will fortunately bring me closer to my family."
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The news will come as a shock to some, but there have been rumours for around the last two weeks that a move was imminent, after reports in the Swiss newspapers.
Chiumiento arrived in Vancouver near the end of the 2010 NASL season and made two regular season and three playoff appearances that year.
During Vancouver’s inaugural season in Major League Soccer, Chiumiento scored two goals and added nine assists in 26 league appearances, as well as one assist in three Canadian Championship matches.
This season, Chiumiento has recorded five assists in 16 league appearances and also added three assists in four Canadian Championship matches.
He was a player that frustrated me so much last season.
You knew he had the skills but he showed them in such short doses. If you’d asked me about transferring him at the start of the season, I was all for it, and regularly was offering him up as trade bait.
Now though, it’s a whole different story.
He knuckled down under Martin Rennie, never publically let his head drop when he wasn’t getting a game and looked a different player from last year. The player we all knew he could be.
He added a top defensive part to his game that was never seen before, and looked to be playing for the team and not himself. His transfer will certainly leave a gap in the Caps side with the form he has been of late.
Chiumiento never made the trip to Toronto. On Friday, he dropped out of the training session in LA and spent ages walking around the fields on his phone (as captured by AFTN photographer Christopher Vose). As soon as we were told that last week, we figured that we could probably put two and two together with the tabloid rumours and he would be moving on to the fore.
Many fans will certainly miss him and he was one of those players who could really light up a game. There aren’t that many players that you would call entertainers on the current Caps squad. Chiumiento was one of them.
Good luck in Switzerland Davide. We wish you all the best.
With FC Zurich also being Eric Hassli's former club, start placing your bets that he'll be joining his buddy there pretty soon.
In the meantime, if you see a big tattooed French guy on a ledge, please call the police.
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