Eddies Exercise Esua Option

As had been reported by the CanPL Editorial team several months ago, Jeannot Esua will be returning to Clarke Stadium for the 2021 Canadian Premier League season.

FC Edmonton has exercised its option on the 24-year-old right-back, who first arrived from his native Cameroon back in early 2019 for a second chance in North American soccer. He quickly established himself as one of the better full-backs in the league, now having made thirty appearances for the Alberta-based side.

While the Eddies went winless this year at The Island Games, Esua appeared in all seven matches and performed well individually, even if the results didn’t come. Now, new Eddies head coach Alan Koch will be hoping one of the team’s few high notes can offer a stable base to build around next season.

We are excited to welcome Jeannot back for another season with FC Edmonton. He has proven himself to be an elite level fullback in the league, and we are excited to integrate him into the new team this coming season. His athleticism and technical ability will make him an important piece of our team. I look forward to seeing how far we can take him in his career.

Alan Koch

The 2019 FC Edmonton Player of the Year joins several youngsters who have opted to re-sign, including academy products Chance Carter, Antony Caceres, and El Salvador U-20 forward Marcus Velado-Tsegaye.

Koch has admitted that FC Edmonton must play catch up to its Canadian Premier League competition, which suggests a high degree of turnover will take place this offseason. So far, Koch has moved quickly to bring in Paris Gee from the USL and secure the intra-league acquisitions of Kyle Porter from York United and Fraser Aird from Valour FC.

Both Valour FC and the Halifax Wanderers have shown that a large-scale rebuild can lead to success as soon as next season on the pitch, though Koch cautions that the project he and new Club President Eric Newendorp are working on will take time to complete. As things stand, Newendorp aims to see the Eddies hoist one North Star Shield within the next five years, while Koch aims to instill a more attractive tiki-taka playing philosophy within the club.

He said he wanted to secure dynamic players for the team, and Esua is certainly that: he’s capable of making runs to support the attacking contingent, so it’ll be interesting to see how the Cameroonian full-back performs in the Koch era.

When the CanPL Editorial team first mentioned that Esua would be returning months ago, they also mentioned that young striker Easton Ongaro was also contracted for the 2021 season. Given that he’s listed as on loan in Denmark, it is expected that the club will officially confirm his re-signing soon, too.

FC Edmonton did not disclose the financial details of Esua’s one year contract extension.