With Honduran media reporting it as a done deal for weeks now, the Caps finally made it official today - 23 year old defender Johnny Leverón is now a Vancouver Whitecap.
Leverón headed out of Honduras on Monday to join his new teammates at their training camp in Charleston, telling reporters that he was looking forward to starting a new adventure. You can read a translation of his impromptu airport press scrum <a href="http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?4210-Johnny-Leveron-Vancouver-is-a-team-that-is-aspiring-to-do-greater-things" target="_blank">HERE</a>.
The signing looks to be another shrewd pick up by the Caps, who are getting a young talent, in his prime and with so much future potential. Leverón is a left-footed centre back, who is very comfortable on the ball and good at moving it forward. He can also play at left back and as a holding midfielder.
Exactly where he will fit into the team and what that means to others is now the interesting aspect that will soon play out.
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Leverón comes to Vancouver with a wealth of international experience, having played for the Honduran national team at every level of his development, including 20 senior caps and three goals.
Last year he captained and played every minute for Honduras in all four of their games at the Olympics in London. He has also represented his country at the 2009 U20 World Cup and the 2007 U17 World Cup.
He has played once for Honduras in their current quest to reach the 2014 World Cup Finals in Brazil, playing the full game in their 2-0 home defeat by Panama in June last year. He was most recently involved as an unused sub in Honduras' 8-1 drubbing of Canada in last year's World Cup qualifier, but didn't feature in the Los Catrachos squad that beat the US 2-1 earlier this month.
At club level, Leverón made 83 appearances, scoring nine goals, for Honduran Liga Nacional side C.D. Motagua over four season. He was recently released by Motagua after negotiations for a new contract fell through and comes to Vancouver as a free agent.
Rennie told <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/TEAMRadio-WhitecapsFCDaily" target="_blank"><b>Whitecaps Daily</b></a> yesterday that the club have been tracking Leverón for <i>"a long time"</i>.
Paul Ritchie watched the player in last year's Olympic qualifiers and <i>"really liked him from that moment"</i>. The Caps continued to monitor him in the Olympics and then at club level in Honduras and got good references from their trusted contacts down there, making the signing a reality.
He has now joined up with the team in Charleston and has less than two weeks to find his feet and gel with his new teammates before the new season kicks off on March 2nd.
Where he will feature this season is already the main talking point, especially with the addition of Nigel Reo-Coker also expected imminently.
With a centreback pairing of Jay DeMerit and Andy O'Brien, you would have to think that opportunities for Leverón at that spot this year will be limited to injury and suspension cover.
Looking ahead, he is perhaps being viewed as the replacement next year if one, or both, of the veterans move on. It also opens up the possibility of using DeMerit as trade bait depending on how he performs this season.
Slotting Leverón in at left back, with Alain Rochat as the defensive mid, is also another serious possibility and the one which I think the Caps will go with. Rennie really seems to like Rochat in that role, but the pair can interchange for various games, which is giving Vancouver some great options back there.
This addition may now see Nigel Reo-Coker on the right wing, and as back up for Y-P Lee, or finding a central midfield role. We're certainly needing an experienced, solid head in there.
Leverón's signing takes the Caps squad to 27 officially. Simon Thomas and Reo-Coker would take that to 29, so something has to give you would think and Jordan Harvey looks like he will be the odd man out at the moment.
He doesn't have the vision that many other players have in his positions and although he is a good squad player to have and bring in, he is also someone who could start with a lot of MLS teams and will surely be used by the Whitecaps to get something more worthwhile back in return.
Carlyle Mitchell must also now be wondering where he will fit in to the Caps plans. He had an excellent game against the College of Charleston on Sunday and many were singing his praises. I think the Caps will keep him around. He's cheap, still has good potential and a loan deal could be on the cards.
It's not ideal making such late additions to a squad that has bonded so well, but Johnny Leverón certainly looks to be a worthwhile one.
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