Coffee with the Caps, Monday May 31

Good Monday morning Caps fans, sorry for the delay in getting this out — I trust it will still help you ease back into the workweek all the same.

MLS cruised into the international break this weekend (albeit without the Whitecaps in action) and we now have a two week span of World Cup qualifiers and Nations League matches to puzzle over.

To circle back around on a rumor from last week, it appears there are more rumblings that the Caps are set to advance things for Alan Patrick, the Shaktar Donetsk midfielder who the club is apparently interested in.

I’m still skeptical of these rumors, just for the simple reason that he doesn’t fit the mold of what the Caps have been looking for. At 31-years-old, Patrick would have basically no resale value and the team has largely been looking at guys in their 20s who would likely be using the club as a stepping stone to Europe.

Now, legit sources from Brazil have indicated there was at least some interest from Vancouver and I don’t take issue with what the Caps are trying to do here. With an 18-month loan-to-buy deal, you basically get a long-term trial run on a guy who has been quite good for Donetsk, with the underlying stats indicating he would be among the top attacking midfielders in the league.

If it doesn’t work? Well the Caps wouldn’t have to exercise the buy option and could go try and find someone younger (probably with a new manager because, let’s be real, if the DP number 10 doesn’t improve things Marc dos Santos is toast). If it works out, it would be an effective stopgap for a few years and the team could simultaneously be scouting for a lottery ticket type deal.

Donetsk have a new coach and have been linked to a bevy of attacking midfielders, which is probably why there is some interest in moving on Patrick’s wages to help bring in some new blood. Whether Patrick is interested in coming to MLS is unclear; at 31, a move to another perennial Champions League contender seems unlikely but he has produced at a level where it is hard to believe another European club isn’t interested. Perhaps Caio Alexandre can pick up the phone and make some moves...

Either way, this is something to watch and will serve as a nice sideshow to all the international matches going on in the weeks to come. You can only devote so much brainpower to Aruba, right?

Shameless Self Promotion

Caleb runs down how the Caps’ prospects have been performing on loan, which means diving into the weeds of Italian youth matches. Caleb does the hard work so you don’t have to.

Best of the Rest

Some fresh faces on the Canadian Men’s National Team roster, with one Whitecaps player (Lucas Cavallini) making an appearance. Thoughts?

It will be a big summer for the women’s national team as well, as they look ahead towards the Tokyo Olympics

Jozy Altidore has been frozen out of Toronto FC and now management is set to decide his future

Inter Miami got a record $2 million fine for DP-gate, while GM Paul McDonough got a ban through next year. Between this and the public humiliation, you have to think this will be an effective deterrent going forward, though I would’ve liked to have seen a points deduction.