After days of wrangling, Vancouver have finally got their man and former West Ham and Aston Villa star, Nigel Reo-Coker, is now officially a Whitecap.
The 28 year old midfielder was confirmed today as the Caps' latest signing, in a four year deal which will see Reo-Coker come in on a low wage this season, then moving up to Designated Player status, and salary, if the transfer proves to be a success.
It's a deal that should hopefully avoid Reo-Coker joining the Jarju and Robson club. The player needs to be at his best, make a valuable contribution and earn his way to DP status. Hopefully the terms have been set that he needs to perform on the pitch if he is to get his future monetary rewards and there are not too many guarantees.
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For anyone who has been following the story for the last few days, it's not been a smooth signing for Martin Rennie.
Portland Timbers held his discovery rights and would no doubt have wanted something decent in return, after the player made it clear he wanted to join Vancouver.
In the end, Portland had to settle for Vancouver’s natural second round picks in the 2014 and 2015 MLS SuperDrafts, after Martin Rennie played hardball and imposed a noon deadline last Friday to get the deal between the clubs done.
It's not a lot when you consider that Portland had to give Houston a first round pick in the 2013 SuperDraft for the rights to Kris Boyd. Seeing how that worked out, someone really needs to deliver a better bartering course to the good people of Portland. At least some allocation money would have helped them in paying for Mikael Sylvestre.
All that was left was to finalise the contract terms with Reo-Coker, and in particular around what the former England U21 international will make from year two of his deal. He is expected to make around $200,000 this season but as for the full details of the deal, and just what is guaranteed, we'll just have to wait and see.
Reo-Coker flew out of London this morning to join up with his new teammates in their Charleston training camp and he will take part in his first training session on Friday. It may be too soon for him to see any gametime against Chicago or Carolina, which is a little concerning with 'First Kick' just over a week away.
There's not much more we can write about Reo-Coker than what we have already. If you missed it earlier, here's our <a href="http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?4199-Whitecaps-making-plans-for-Nigel" target="_blank"><u><b>detailed profile</b></u></a> of the player.
He comes to Vancouver with a wealth of experience at club level in the English Premiership and Championship, and at European level in the UEFA Cup. He has captained club sides and the England U21s, and whilst he brings a new leadership quality to the club, he also comes with some baggage around his attitude.
Can we read too much into the latter? We've detailed it pretty thoroughly in the article above, but Martin Rennie likes to work on projects and problems.
There is a fine line between confidence and perceived arrogance, and personally, I like my players to come with a lot of swagger. If you don't believe in yourself, no-one else is going to believe in you, and that shows on the pitch.
You do feel that if a manager can get Reo-Coker back to his glory days through the right mindset, then it will be someone with the approach and off the field techniques of Rennie.
Reo-Coker sees the move to Vancouver as a chance to get his career back on track and I have no doubt that he will come here in the right frame of mind and with the right attitude. He just needs to keep that, which can be hard for anyone making the move to a new city.
He’s had recent offers to join West Brom and to play in Russia, but chose Vancouver. That says a lot about Martin Rennie and the Whitecaps organisation at this moment in time.
Let's just hope that Reo-Coker's past issues don't come back to the fore in Vancouver and he does arrive with a freshly turned over leaf. After Barry Robson, that's the last kind of story that the Caps need to play out and they can't afford another high profile foreign flop.
The main question now is just where he will fit in to the team, following the signing of Johnny Leverón on Tuesday.
Reo-Coker is primarily known as a mostly defensive midfielder. He can also play on the right, either in midfield or as right back.
Initially it was felt that Reo-Coker would get the nod in that right back slot, with Y-P Lee moving to the left and Alain Rochat taking the defensive mid position.
Lee is not expected to travel for the east coast games, so will the Caps look to have Reo-Coker as cover there and play him elsewhere the rest of the time, or will they want their new name to just consolidate in the one position?
This may be still what Vancouver look at, but the addition of Leverón, who can seemingly play left back and defensive mid as well as centreback, gives Martin Rennie a whole host of options and depth for some much needed squad rotation this season.
It's certainly a nice position for Rennie and the Whitecaps to now be in. Let's just hope it doesn't cause too many headaches as the season progresses.
<center>[For Nigel Reo-Coker's own thoughts on the signing, read this <a href="http://www.prostamerika.com/2013/02/20/77026/77026" target="_blank"><u>article</u></a> on Prost Amerika and <a href="http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/8513168/Vancouver-Whitecaps-have-agreed-terms-with-Nigel-Reo-Coker" target="_blank"><u>this one</u></a> on Sky Sports]</center>
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