Is Drew Beckie With Atletico Ottawa?

It appears that veteran defender Drew Beckie is taking part in Atletico Ottawa’s Spain-based training camp.

While the Canadian Premier League expansion is only due to begin revealing its ‘box of surprises‘ roster later today, rumours regarding Beckie’s signing with the Ottawa-based team began springing up weeks ago. While he wasn’t included in the Soccerway roster leak that appears to have shown eight brand new signings, some social media posts have linked him to the same hotel location as another suspected signing.

Astute fans in the unofficial Canadian Premier League Discord channel noted that both Drew Beckie and Chris Mannella appeared to be staying at the same hotel based on their Instagram stories, which featured the same furniture decor and room colour schemes.

What’s more, Beckie’s post – perhaps as part of a coy club tease – appears to have an Atletico Ottawa training kit hanging neatly right in the middle of the background:

The 30-year-old defender had confirmed his interest in joining the Canadian Premier League back in January, telling us that he’d received a positive response from within the league. Beckie had last played in Canada six years ago, when the Regina-born athlete made 34 league appearances for the Ottawa Fury.

He most recently played for USL Championship side El Paso Locomotive, where the six-foot-two defender made 22 appearances for the team after suffering a near-deadly infection following a trial in Finland. Prior to that, he spent his career in North America with the likes of the Carolina Railhawks, Jacksonville Armada, and the Ottawa Fury after initially being picked by the Columbus Crew in the 2013 SuperDraft.

Fans waiting to see who Atletico Ottawa has signed likely don’t have to wait too much longer, with the team teasing that its new roster additions will start being revealed today at 3:00PM EST:

If the earlier roster leak was accurate, former Ottawa Fury midfielder Chris Mannella will be joined by three other intra-league additions in Ryan Telfer, Zach Verhoven, and Dylon Powley. In terms of new domestic signings like Beckie, the club appears to have brought in Jordan Webb, Shawn Lawson, Brian Wright, and Teodor Obadal (who revealed his own arrival to Spain already).

While nothing is confirmed as of yet, it would be quite a coincidence for former Fury men Chris Mannella and Drew Beckie to be staying at the same hotel, and that’s before considering that an Atletico Ottawa training kit was spotted in the background of Beckie’s post.

Atletico Ottawa should be beginning its roster announcement rollout today at 3:00PM, and if it follows the format of the roster leak with the addition of Beckie, it looks like head coach Mista will be fielding a strong team for the 2021 CPL season.