VANCOUVER, B.C. – With Major League Soccer's summer transfer window set to close on Wednesday, the Vancouver Whitecaps are busy trying to finalize some additions to their squad for a late playoff push.
If reports from Costa Rica are to be believed, CD Saprissa center back Kendall Waston will be heading to Vancouver to shore up the backline. Nothing has been confirmed by the Whitecaps as of yet and head coach Carl Robinson wouldn't say much on the speculation at training on Monday.
"He's obviously under contract to Saprissa at the moment," Robinson told reporters. "There's a number of players that we're looking at to try and see if we can get things done, but while he's under contract with them, I can't really say nothing other than he's a very good player."
The 6-foot-5 Waston has two caps for the Costa Rican national team and was on the Ticos' preliminary World Cup roster, but didn't make the final cut before Brazil.
The 26-year-old would not only add some much needed height to the Whitecaps defense but his record also indicates that he will bring a goalscoring threat in the opposition box, especially from set pieces, something that has been seriously lacking from Vancouver's arsenal in recent seasons.
All told, Robinson admitted that Waston fits the mold of the kind of player that Robinson has said he is keen to bring to the club.
"I'd like to have Aaron Ramsay and Gareth Bale here as well, if I'm honest, but that's never going to happen," Robinson joked. "We're looking for good players. [Waston] probably fits into that category very well and he's different to what we've got.
"I said all along that the players we're going to bring in are going to be helping the squad, not just in the short term, but in the medium and long term as well, and have got to be different to what we've got because, depending on in-game scenarios, you need to have a different type of player on the bench if they're going to come on or starting games."
Just don't expect the Whitecaps to make a huge splash this summer, such as the big Designated Player haul New York City FC recently completed. Robinson says the club is happy to continue its approach of scouting out some lesser-known gems.
"I've got a certain model that I want to use and want to develop here and the club have as well and we're both on the same page in relation to that," he said. "Are we going to see a David Villa-, Frank Lampard-type of player [here]? No, we're not. That's the reality of it.
"Will we see another Pedro Morales at some stage? Yes, hopefully we will. Whether that will be in the summer window for us or the winter window, that's the big question."
