York United Inks Young Winger Carson Buschman-Dormond

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With York United in a tough spot for youth minutes, the club has answered back with the signing of 20-year-old forward Carson Buschman-Dormond.

The Vancouver native has already arrived in Toronto, having spent the last two years on loan with the FC Zurich U-21 team. Now inking a deal that includes a club option for 2024, he’s ready to earn the first senior minutes of his career.

See Also: York United Set For Youth Injection

The youngster had moved to test himself in European football back in 2021, trading hometown Vancouver for the rural Estonian environment of Vijandi. Having signed for the town’s team, Tulevik, the left-footed youngster proceeded to bag two goals and three assists in his opening twelve fixtures, impressing some FC Zurich scouts who quickly came knocking and signed him on a two-year loan.

That loan has now come and gone, with Buschman-Dormond making 44 appearances for the Swiss club’s U-21 side. Having ridden the bench just once for the senior team, the end of his loan spell brought a new decision for Carson: continuing to forge his way in Europe, or accepting a call home from a York United side who want to give him consistent first-team minutes.

“I am looking forward to returning to Canada and playing on home soil with York United,” said Buschman-Dormond of the move. “I’m excited to get started with the team and feel confident I can play my part in helping the squad enjoy a successful second half of the season.”

It looked like pro soccer had always been on the cards for Buschman-Dormond: as a young teen, he had a brief stint with the Whitecaps Academy before Simon Fraser University offered him a scholarship after spotting him play with Fusion FC. He was also invited to join former Swiss international Blaise Nkufo’s academy, where former CPL youngster Ahmed Alghamdi and current VFC youngster James Cameron had trained

It looks like NKufo – who represented Switzerland some 34 times – can now count three Canadian Premier League athletes amongst his former students.

York United head coach Martin Nash had teased that reinforcements were coming to help the club out in domestic youth minutes, where York team sits far from where it needs to be: they’ve accumulated just 345 of the required 2,000 domestic U-21 minutes, meaning York must hand an average of 137 minutes per match to players in Carson’s age bracket. No club has ever missed that mark, which would result in the forfeiture of a playoff spot.

The need for youth minutes is great news for a hungry forward like Carson, who can expect to be deployed on the left wing for his new team. He can also be deployed as a left wing-back as needed, helping him fill in the gap left by outbound defender Lassana Faye.

Buschman-Dormond joins four youth players contracted to the team, alongside returning-from-injury youngsters Theo Afework and Noah Abateneh, new recruit Trivine Esprit, and goalkeeper Eleias Himaras, who is stuck behind an in-form Niko Giantsopoulos.

York United are headed to Winnipeg this weekend for a Sunday night clash against Valour, with Carson’s home debut potentially coming as soon as July 30, where he could find himself squaring up against Doneil Henry.