Vancouver Whitecaps announced Residency striker Caleb Clarke as the latest addition to their MLS squad this morning.
Clarke will become the fourth Canadian on the squad, and fills the 30th and final spot on the roster. If the Caps look to make any more additions this season then some players are going to have to move on. Let that speculation commence.
The 18 year old Richmond, BC native has played a starring role for the Caps in the USSDA U18 campaign this season, scoring 20 goals in 19 appearances.
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His latest two goals came this past weekend in California, when he scored in both of the 3-2 victories against De Anza Force and Cruz Breakers Academy, which secured the young Caps playoff place.
Caleb is understandably delighted to be moving up to the first team:
<i>"I’m thrilled to have realized my dream of signing a professional contract and delighted to have achieved this with my hometown club in Whitecaps FC.
I look forward to making the next step in my career as a player and I am pleased to be helping Whitecaps FC become a top club in MLS and CONCACAF."</i>
As Philippe Davies can testify from last season, making the MLS squad and managing to get minutes, are two very different propositions. The reality is that Caleb Clarke is a long term project and we shouldn't expect to see him running out at MLS stadia any time soon.
This is all about the future and he will benefit greatly from being around the first team players and the whole training environment that brings. He still needs to work on his game to be ready to fully move up to the next level, but the signs are most definitely there that he is already close to that.
I would much rather have quality Canadian talent with the Whitecaps in MLS, with an eye to the future, than have Canadians playing in the squad who frankly aren't good enough for the level and the team results tell the tale.
Caleb Clarke is the sixth homegrown player to join the Whitecaps in Major League Soccer and follows on quickly from the signing of Bryce Alderson in the pre-season.
These additions are testament to the hard work and development put in by everybody in the Whitecaps Residency program and there is no doubt that we are going to see the results of this for many years to come.
As such, it was sad to hear the news coming out of the Caps this afternoon that Residency Technical Director and Head Coach, Richard Grootscholten, is moving on to pastures new. Richard has always been a pleasure to talk to after the Residency games and his departure will be a big loss to the Club.
Clarke has been with the Whitecaps Residency program for two and a half year and has really developed since I saw him run out for the first PDL game of last season at Empire against Kitsap Pumas, and he will only keep continuing to do so.
Back in those early days he needed a lot of positional direction, but last season he came on leaps and bounds and by the end of the PDL season, he was already looking like the real deal, scoring three goals and having three assists in 16 appearances. He has continued to make the headlines with the U18's this season.
Caleb has been heavily involved with the Caps first team training since pre-season and made the trip to Orlando for the Disney Pro Soccer Classic in February, where he unfortunately picked up a shoulder injury against Houston in the second game.
The plan is to have him training with the first team now and work with Mike Young, the Caps strength and conditioning coach, to build him up physically.
With the U18s going to be involved in USSDA playoff games in June and July, we asked Martin Rennie after training this morning, whether the idea is for Caleb to see out that season with them:
<i>"Yeah I think so, unless there's conflicts where we need him to play, then we would have him up with us, but I think he'll probably be training a fair bit with us and still finishing his games with the academy.
That way it keeps him playing. We just have to take it week by week with him. With all the young players we just have to get them the best opportunity we can each week and kind of stick to a plan for them that gets them games, but also gets them training at a higher intensity."</i>
It's definitely a win-win situation for both the Club and the player.
Welcome to the MLS squad Caleb. Congratulations and all the best going forward.
Hopefully we will also see Residency prospects Ben Fisk and Callum Irving following in Alderson and Clarke's footsteps and move up to the first team pretty soon as well.
Both players have signed a PDL contract for the season and if they both continue to impress the way they have been, then that day will surely come sooner rather than later, once some spaces open up.
The Whitecaps future is certainly looking most bright and that's great news for everyone.
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