Last week, Vancouver FC of the Canadian Premier League sold 16-year-old Grady McDonnell to Belgium’s Club Brugge KV for the second-highest transfer fee in league history. Sources tell Sportsnet the deal is worth $527,000 plus add-ons. There is also a sell-on clause, meaning that Vancouver will benefit financially if Club Brugge eventually sells the player to another club.
The transaction may not have made the nightly sports news shows in this country, but it has caused a stir within Canadian soccer circles. Not only is it an incredible opportunity for the Surrey, BC midfielder, but it is of real significance within the structure of Canadian soccer development.
Vancouver FC president Rob Friend — a former Canadian international who spent over a decade in Europe, the bulk of which was in the German Bundesliga — is determined to establish a philosophy within the club that focuses primarily on discovering talent and turning the club into a sustainable business by using the global transfer system as its modus operandi.
“[The majority of clubs in Europe] survive on transfer fees. And, aside from the Premier League and maybe a few other big clubs, you survive on transfers, which means you have to embed that strategy in the DNA of the club from top down,” Friend said. “Your coach needs to know, his success is not only defined by results and by winning, but also ensuring that there’s a development pathway. This is a huge part of our business model. I wouldn’t say this is how we as the CPL are going to survive, but I think that for the CPL, this can be a huge opportunity and a huge niche as part of what the CPL is going to be — much like most leagues in the world are developing talent and then moving talent on.”
It takes an audacious mindset to kick-start such a philosophy. McDonnell was playing in the Vancouver Whitecaps youth academy prior to his move to Vancouver FC. A natural progression was likely on the cards for the then 15-year-old as there was interest from European clubs, specifically in England. McDonnell qualified for the Republic of Ireland and had already begun turning heads with his performances for the Irish youth teams including the U-17s — much to the chagrin of Canada Soccer.
Still, he was in the Whitecaps system but had not signed his professional papers, which presented an opportunity for any club with the wherewithal.
“The structure in Canada right now allows us as the CPL to have conversations with players that aren’t under contract,” Friend added. “And right now in the academy system, they’re not under contract until they sign a professional contract. Globally, you have what’s called youth compensation, but in Canada, there’s no structure for youth compensation. So essentially, a lot of these players are basically free agents in a way in Canada. That’ll probably change, it’s going to change, and Grady may be the catalyst for that.
“Everybody knew about [Grady] in Canada,” Friend continues. “MLS was also talking about him, so he really was the top guy in North America in the 2008 age group. And so we had our eye on him. But, at that point, he was still 15. This was at this time last year, so we couldn’t sign him to a pro deal, but we knew [when] he was turning 16, so we had that opportunity. We spoke with the family. They were over in Ireland at the time, I believe he just got called to the U-17 Irish national team. And there was a lot of pressure there within the camp saying, we need you playing men’s football if you want to accelerate your development. There were already people in his ear over in the UK. So, what are your options? Do you jump over to Europe? The kid wasn’t quite ready. The family wasn’t ready to see him at that age jump over to Europe yet. He could stay at home. So really, it was, again, crafting the right story. He knew about the environment. Frankly, it’s playing with men week in, week out, day in, day out, so we were able to convince him.”
The timing proved perfect. Grady would become the CPL’s youngest-ever signing, and his play would dictate that the interest from overseas continued. Friend acknowledged that several clubs were in on the player, including a Premier League side that tried to beat Club Brugge to the signing in the final hours prior to the deal going through.
For Vancouver FC, however, this is just the beginning. Off the back of the Grady sale, another exciting new signing is expected to be announced later this week. The club’s ambitions are clear but perhaps different to some of their rivals in Canadian soccer.
“I’m ambitious to develop the top talent in this country,” Friend said. “And that’s what I want to be as a club. Every club’s got their own model, but that’s what we want to be. We knew Grady also would be sort of a catalyst for that, of looking at Vancouver FC as maybe ‘that’s the club where I can develop, they have the balls to play young players.’ Because you have to have the trust, you have to have the confidence to be able to put these kids on the field, which means maybe you’re not going to win some of the games, but you have to be confident knowing that maybe that’s a different model and accepting that.”
Friend adds that he wants to challenge other CPL clubs to adopt the same model, to target the talent in academy football and offer that top talent the opportunity to play against men in competitive matches every week rather than stagnating at youth level.
“I want to be the leader in player sales in this country — No. 1 — but I also want to win championships. When can that formula match each other where you can do both? You know, you see there’s some examples. The Ajax’s of the world, they had that formula for a while, for example.”
That will take time, and convincing a fanbase that this is the correct way forward may be the biggest challenge. Afterall, everyone loves a winner. Ideally, as Friend says, you can have both success and a devoted development pathway. Nurturing Canadian talent, watching it blossom and then making a profit on it is surely more attractive than more traditional methods of team building.
“It’s a tough one, right? We’re not bringing stars here so at what point is there a name that attracts a larger fan base in the CPL?” Friend asks. “Okay, so if it’s not the name, what is the value proposition for the fans? I think it’s winning. Let’s look at [Hamilton’s four-time champions] Forge FC. Okay, they’re winning, they’re getting a fan base. At what point can they go from that 5,000-6,000 [fans] to 10,000 [per game]? Or is it in Vancouver where a different market is really difficult? We have to figure out our own little niche within our market … the value proposition of fans coming. By having in the DNA that identity of the club, I think is important.”
Vancouver FC has finished seventh out of eight teams in its first two years in the league. However, this is not seen as a failure by the president. His vision is clear, and he has the complete buy-in of his head coach Afshin Ghotbi, who Friend says has that extremely rare quality in a sports coach — no ego. He is prepared to lose the odd match if it means the philosophy of developing youth is maintained, even if the end results might harm his future opportunities within the game.
But if Vancouver FC can develop a few more Grady McDonnells in the pipeline, then the club’s reputation will surely have nothing to worry about.
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