8 CPL Thoughts: Pacific's goal scoring woes, Gabriel Bitar interest, Kian Williams injury news and more

Another transfer window has come and gone but that doesn't mean the wheeling and dealing is done in the Canadian Premier League.

Canada's much debated — and unhappily agreed to — secondary transfer window closed on Thursday. With it's closing, clubs can no longer bring in players with international transfer certificates (ITCs) domiciled outside of Canada. But there's a catch: players whose ITCs are already based in Canada can still move leading up to the September 13 roster freeze. At that time, clubs will need to submit their final rosters to take them until the end of the season. The game is still very much afoot.

So, without further ado, welcome to 8 CPL Thoughts, the column where I round up the news and tidbits I'm hearing across the league.

1. Ilias Iliadis heads back to Atlético Ottawa on loan following Sean Rea miss

Atlético Ottawa lost out on Sean Rea as a result of the cap crunch but it wasn't from lack of trying.

Following the mutual release of left-back Aboubakary Sacko, the club managed to free up some money to try and swing Rea. It wasn't enough. Although the nation's capital may have been the frontrunner for much of the month of July, both the Wanderers and York United also made contract offers. I'm told Halifax's offer of a guaranteed second year (Atlético Ottawa's was an option) and more money, which Ottawa couldn't beat, got Rea on a flight to the East Coast.

Pivoting, Atlético Ottawa sought out a loan deal with a familiar partner in MLS side CF Montréal to bring Ilias Iliadis back into the fold. This is the second time in as many years that Iliadis has made the trek from la belle province to Ottawa so he's already familiar with head coach Carlos Gonzalez's system and the club's setup.

But what's more important than familiarity is the fact that CF Montréal is paying most, if not all, of Iliadis' contract, meaning Atlético Ottawa likely have the space to have swung / swing one more deal. I'm told they were looking at potentially bringing in another defender but don't know if they got something done.

2. Goodbye Brem Soumaoro, hello Santiago Márquez

Although it hasn't been officially announced by the club, César Luis Merlo of Periódico AM reported this week that York United has again dipped into Liga MX, this time to sign Santiago Márquez — the son of Mexican legend Rafa Márquez. Merlo noted Márquez joins York United on a loan deal, just like fellow Mexican loanees Josué Martínez, Orlando Botello, and Jorge Guzman.

One thing to note is that as long as the paperwork was stamped before 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, clubs don't have to announce their new signings right away. They can, and in the case of the Nine Stripes, will, take their sweet time. I expect this one to be announced in the coming week.

From a strategy standpoint, the Pasquel brothers' strategy is clear: they're leveraging their connections to bring in quality international players to bolster their roster.

Which brings us to Brem Soumaoro, whose designation as an international player meant he had to go to free up space for Márquez. Now, that isn't the only reason club and player agreed to a mutual termination, but I've been told it played a large part in their decision; Soumaoro took up an important international slot and wasn't playing very much.

I've sent out notes to gauge where Soumaoro will land, as I think he's got good upside, but haven't heard anything back.

3. The Wanderers tried to move Christian Volesky to another CPL club

I had asked Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar as recently as Monday about the status of striker Christian Volesky and was told he continued to be unavailable through injury. By Wednesday, the club announced it had parted ways with the 31-year old American.

As I reported, things went off the rails almost immediately for Volesky in Halifax. He arrived to training camp hurt, missed almost the entirety of pre-season and fell from the starting lineup — never to return — after only two matches. Sources said the Wanderers tried to broker a deal to send Volesky to another CPL club in May in a player swap but it fell through. He then sustained a wrist injury which kept him out of the squad until he packed his bags.

Part of the Wanderers' horrid start to the season can be attributed to the fact that they couldn't score. Having their veteran striker, who had 76 career goals to his name, contribute zero offensively didn't help their situation.

But I don't think it's all Volesky's fault. Sometimes things don't work out. And at this level of football, I'd argue strikers are the hardest to gauge: Volesky is the second No. 9 in as many years to wash out only months into his contract for the Wanderers. Kosi Nwafornso, who played with Gheisar at Vaughan Azzurri, left after only eight appearances last year. And Théo Collomb, who had his warts, also wasn’t retained after only one season which saw him frequently left aside. Needless to say, it's a gamble as to who will stick or falter.

Still, Volesky’s recruitment can’t be viewed as anything but a miss; fixing that mistake, and finding the goals he was supposed to score, cost the Wanderers points. And I wouldn't be surprised if Halifax doesn't make a swing for another striker to help down the stretch.

4. What's up with Kevaughn Tavernier?

After a pre-season that saw him trial at clubs throughout Europe, I've heard that Forge's Kevaughn Tavernier is again making the rounds overseas. As I previously reported, the 18-year old Tavernier spent time with Ligue 1 side AS Monaco and the Bundesliga's SV Werder Bremen to start the year, although I've been unable to confirm his latest sojourn.

Tavernier has split time between Forge and League1 Ontario's Sigma this season. He's registered five CPL appearances with Forge, playing a smattering of minutes, but has played a more regular shift with Sigma. I reached out to Forge to confirm Tavernier's situation and they've politely declined to comment at this time.

5. Mending relationships and shopping Gabriel Bitar

Vancouver FC head coach Afshin Ghotbi made some interesting comments on Monday to OneSoccer's Gareth Wheeler and Jordan Wilson just before kickoff versus the Wanderers.

Discussing his squad, Ghotbi mentioned that the week had been spent mending relationships within the dressing room. Here’s his full quote: “I think we had a great week of training. A lot of conversations, individually, and trying to mend relationships between players and understanding between each line. As you saw, there’s some changes in the lineup also. I’m hoping the message is very clear: we want to play our football, we want to control games and we want points out of these games.”

Now, I’ve heard from sources previously that there may be some discontent in Vancouver, which has sometimes reared its head, but was surprised to hear Ghotbi bring it out into the open moments before a match. Only days later, I reported that the club is actively shopping 25-year old Gabriel Bitar. Could there be more happening behind the scenes?

It's easy to draw a line between Ghotbi's comments and the Bitar news but I'd wager many within the Eagles are discontented as they have only one win in their last 10 matches. If they don't patch things up, or make some changes to their squad, there's the very real risk that Vancouver could squander what was an excellent off-season and start to the year.

I'm told the Wanderers and Pacific FC have made bids for Bitar's services.

6. Goal scoring woes for Pacific

To their credit, head coach James Merriman's Pacific squad has conceded the least amount of goals in the CPL this year. The problem is, they also can't score to save their lives.

To date, Pacific has scored only 14 goals across 16 league matches. Thomas Meilleur-Giguère — who I think has been outstanding this year and deserves some serious hardware recognition — leads the team in open play goals with two. Players brought in to score, be it Reon Moore or Andrei Tîrcoveanu, haven't found it offensively. This is a problem.

What's been interesting is most of the club's roster moves have been to add defenders. Following the loss of Aly Ndom, Pacific's brought in a few, the most recent being Argentinian defender Kevin Ceceri. They've added a bit of bite, sure, but are still obviously lacking creativity in the midfield to go with some goal scoring acumen. As mentioned above, they've made an offer for Gabriel Bitar to help in midfield. And I believe they've been actively hunting for another attacking player to help in the final third. We'll see if they can get anything over the line.

7. Praise for Themi Antonoglou

It's one thing to be told someone's good but it's another to see it with your own eyes.

Going back to the off-season, I had a couple people mention they expected a big year from 23-year old Themi Antonoglou. Many lauded his signing; given his dozen or so appearances with Toronto FC, many thought a good stint at Valour could help serve as a springboard to brighter pastures. Well, he's certainly delivered this year as he leads the league with six assists, putting his vision and crossing to good use for head coach Phil Dos Santos.

But his contributions aren't limited to only the offensive side of the game. Playing as a left-back, Antonoglou has been sneaky effective defending; he leads the league in interceptions, having picked the ball off 40 times and is second in tackles, trailing only behind Manny Aparicio.

In short, I've enjoyed watching Antonoglou a lot this year as he's found his groove after being on the outside looking in at Toronto FC. He's playing big minutes and that can't be understated for young footballers as the MLS is poor at incentivizing the growth of Canadian talent.

With a little luck, I'd love to see Antonoglou become another CPL success story.

8. Kian Williams done for the year

I reported last week that Kian Williams — who had been a vital part of Valour's attack and one of the few players retained from 2023 — would miss the rest of the season.

The club confirmed Williams' absence on Tuesday, reporting the midfielder has suffered a partial ACL tear. He's expected to be back to fulfill the last year of his contract in 2025. Per league rules, Valour has moved Williams to the inactive list for cap relief.

Williams is the latest player to be moved to the league's inactive list, joining Aly Ndom, Julian Dunn and Jonathan Grant. It remains to be seen if Valour will try and add given they've got some extra dollars to spend or will ride out the year. Speaking to Dos Santos recently, he told me they wouldn't add unless it fit into their long-term plans.

Cover Photo Credit: Canadian Premier League