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The Vancouver Whitecaps have touted themselves as a development club, looking to send their players to bigger and better clubs. While some will argue about how successful they have been in that venture, several young men have seen some action in Europe. MLSSoccer.com recently summarized the latest results for these MLS products. For the Whitecaps, that meant updates on Sam Adekugbe, Ben McKendry, Kianz Froese, and Alphonso Davies.
Sam Adekugbe: Sam is currently in Norway playing for Valerenga. Like MLS, their season just started, with their first match on March 30th. He was on the scoresheet in the opener, with an assist on Valerenga’s first goal, in a 2-0 victory.
Ben McKendry: The defensive midfielder is now plying his trade in Sweden for Nykoping. Like Norway, Sweden’s league just started play, however, McKendry has already made an impact. In Nykoping’s opener on April 7th, McKendry slotted home the winner.
Kianz Froese: Playing for Fortuna Duesseldorf II, Kianz has in form of late, after a poor January and February. On March 22, he had a goal and an assist in a 3-3 draw away and then put up another goal and assist in a 3-2 home victory against Bonner SC on April 6.
Alphonso Davies: Davies scored his first Bundesliga goal on March 17 against Mainz, then proceeded to suffer a knee ligament strain in the celebration. That kept him out of Canada’s Nations League qualifier and the Bayern Munich lineup for a while. He is now back in the 18 but has yet to feature. With five games to go in the season and Bayern Munich with a one-point lead over Borussia Dortmund, I don’t expect him to get a lot of playing time as there will be pressure to win. He could see some time in the DfB-Pokal semifinal (like our Voyageurs Cup) next week, but doubtful he will start. Still, he has made some great progress and should be a strong force for them next season.