Rumour: Awuah Set For Whitecaps Trial

Canadian left-back Kwame Awuah is set for a trial with the Vancouver Whitecaps, according to Whitecaps insider GlassCity.

The 26-year-old has been a consistent performer in the Canadian Premier league over the last three years, helping Forge FC to two league titles after three consecutive runs to the final.

Awuah would be no stranger to Major League Soccer, having first arrived to the US league as a New York City FC SuperDraft first round pick in 2017. He made ten league appearances for the MLS side over two seasons before landing with Canadian Premier League side Forge FC.

The 26-year-old’s time in Hamilton has proven fruitful, with Awuah cementing himself as a league-leading left-back with plenty of attacking prowess who can move to a central position when required. He’s made eighty appearances for the hammers over the last three seasons, contributing ten assists and scoring three goals.

The 2021 CPL season saw him start almost every league match for the Hamilton-based side, with the full-back going on to lead the side in some of its attacking statistics: he made the fourth-most passes into the box throughout the entire league, and the fifth-most passes in the attacking third.

On the defensive end, the full-back ranked top ten in terms of both recoveries and duals won, proving to a top talent in terms of one-on-one situations with enough speed to shuttle between both ends of the pitch for the full 90.

Whitecaps Sporting Director Axel Schuster had just revealed yesterday that the club was trialing a Canadian athlete who was already based in the country, leading many to believe the side was looking into a player from the CPL level.

The Vancouver Whitecaps have trialed multiple CPL athletes over the last few years, handing Amer Didic and Aboubacar Sissoko trials in the past. Last season saw key Forge defender Daniel Krutzel trial in Sweden before returning to the hammers.

The Vancouver Whitecaps have always kept close tabs on the burgeoning domestic league, which comes as no surprise given that the MLS side has been knocked out of the domestic cup twice by CPL competition: Cavalry FC accomplished the feat in 2019, with Pacific FC doing so in 2021.

Last season saw Cristian Gutierrez establish himself as the de facto choice in Vancouver’s left-back position, though the club had little depth to cover for him during a hamstring injury. Awuah would represent a good depth option at what one could assume would be a minimal salary cap hit.

Should the two-time CPL champion earn a contract offer from Schuster, he would become just the second CPL-to-MLS transfer after Joel Waterman‘s move from Cavalry FC to CF Montreal in 2019. While Awuah would be in for a pay raise with such a move, he would miss out on Champions League action by navigated away from the hammers.

With neither Kwame nor the Vancouver Whitecaps stating official anything yet, however, it remains to be seen if Forge man is truly in the midst of a trial opportunity.