VANCOUVER – Some might call it a re-build. Some may call it a re-set.
Whatever term you want to use, make no mistake the Marc Dos Santos era with the Vancouver Whitecaps is fully underway.
The Whitecaps announced on Monday their first roster moves ahead of the 2019 MLS season, which included exercising the contract options of seven players. Among those having their contracts picked up include Canadian defenders Doneil Henry and Brett Levis, as well as midfielder Yordy Reyna and striker Erik Hurtado.
What made more headlines, though, was the club’s decision not to re-sign MLS veterans Kei Kamara and Christian Techera, two players who combined for 22 goals this past season. As well, Vancouver declined to extend contracts to starting goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic and midfielder Brek Shea, one of two Designated Players on the team.
Dos Santos said the Whitecaps have yet to speak with any of the players whose contracts are up, leaving the door open for some to possibly return.
While he knows decisions to cut certain players loose might catch fans by surprise, Dos Santos feels they are necessary steps for the club to take in order to improve.
“I have a lot of respect for what was done here in the past,” Dos Santos told Sportsnet. “The only concern I have here is what’s best for the Vancouver Whitecaps. I want to put this club in the best position possible, a club that could have my image. For that, we had to take some important decisions.”
Dos Santos took over the reigns as coach in early November after the Whitecaps parted ways with Carl Robinson late in the season. He is now in charge of a team that currently has 17 players under contract before the 2019 MLS season begins next March.
Having been on the job for just a few weeks, he knows personnel moves like the ones made today were not easy to make.
“Some decisions have no risk because we already have replacements, which hopefully will be announced soon,” Dos Santos explained. “Other decisions are going with your gut feeling to take a risk. You have to live with that factor and can’t be afraid of that.”
Among the players still on the Whitecaps roster include long-time captain Kendall Waston. The Costa Rican central defender was very outspoken at the conclusion of the 2018 campaign, telling all whom would listen he didn’t agree with the decision to let go Robinson and that he would like to move on. Dos Santos said it is still a bit early to say whether Waston will be in a Vancouver uniform next spring.
“Kendall was away for some national team duty when I arrived with the club,” Dos Santos said. “I always felt after what he said [at the end of the season] that we have to have a conversation face-to-face and not one on the phone. Hopefully we’ll be able to sit down soon.”
While he would not confirm one way or another if Waston is part the Whitecaps future, Dos Santos knows he can be a great MLS defender, with the ability to provide more than what he has shown.
“If everything ends up that he stays here, he’s going to be challenged in a different way,” Dos Santos said. “I’ve often said it takes courage to be one of my centre backs because I ask of lot from them mentally. If he stays, he’s going to be challenged.”
Waston wasn’t the only Whitecaps player away recently on international duty, as Henry and Russell Teibert joined the out-going Alphonso Davies for Canada in their 1-0 win in St. Kitts and Nevis in recent CONCACAF Nations League qualifying action.
Nine of the 17 players on the current Vancouver roster are Canadians, including midfielder Marcel de Jong and goalkeeper Sean Melvin.
“If we have players who are Canadian in the roster, they need to have a chance to be at the national team level,” said Dos Santos, himself born in Montreal. “This is not only good for us as a club that our players are playing international games, but it’s very clear that the Whitecaps want to be a club that helps the national team grow.”
“We want to be a club that where [in the 2026 World Cup in Canada] we see on TV the name of the player and underneath is written ‘Vancouver Whitecaps’. We will be proud if that happens.”
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