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2022 CPL Golden Boot Winner Alejandro Diaz Set For Vancouver FC Loan
By The Canadian Premier League’s last golden boot winner is set for a west coast return – but not for his former club Pacific FC.
Instead, Alejandro ‘Wero’ Diaz – who bagged 31 goals in 62 appearances for Pacific – will join rival side Vancouver FC on a one-year-long loan deal.
Diaz departed from Pacific FC as the club’s top goalscorer midway through last season, winning the golden boot for a thirteen-goal haul despite leaving months before the 2022 CPL season actually came to an end.
His move to Norwegian second division side Sogndal IL netted Pacific ‘close to a league record’ in transfer fee, with sell-on and performance clauses to boot.
Sogndal head coach Harvard Flo stated that the striker’S return to Canadian soil comes after Diaz found himself unable to get regular game time in Norway, where he had made six goals and three assists in 22 appearances, but still found himself locked out of a starting spot.
He returns to a familiar league that he had dominated, contributing 31 goals and nine assists in 62 appearances, wrapping his time in purple with a CPL-first hat trick in continental action and a golden boot win.
Before his initial run out west, the Mexican striker had accrued 56 appearances in his homeland for the likes of Club America, Necaxa, Atlas, and Zacatepec.
While his former side Pacific are riding high in the league, his new loanee team in Vancouver FC are not: bottom of the table and in need of an experienced touch, Diaz will be expected to join Shaan Hundal in bringing the goals.
The club had quietly released French striker Emmanuel Robe last week, freeing up an international roster slot which Diaz’s loan will fill.
The team also swapped youngster Mael Henry for more experienced attacker Mikael Cantave last week, with head coach Afshin Ghotbi moving quickly in the transfer window.
It’ll be salty news for Pacific fans who have watched club icons like Kadin Chung, Callum Irving, and now Alejandro Diaz all jump to the lower mainland.