He didn't hate the city or his teammates, but Omar Salgado certainly didn't enjoy his time as a Vancouver Whitecap, as he revealed in a candid interview with Goal.com. It's a great piece written by Ives Galarcep, and I suggest you have a read.

Some choice quotes from the piece show how Salgado descended into anger and frustration by the end of his tenure with the 'Caps, as the now 21 year old says he felt 'lied to' by his club.

To say Salgado hated his time with the Vancouver Whitecaps is an understatement. As much as he grew to love the city itself, and established connections with teammates, the four disappointing - and at times painful - years with the MLS club saw him go from a happy-go-lucky teenager to jaded 21-year-old who couldn't wait to leave the team that made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 MLS Draft. "I can really say that it was a nightmare," Salgado told Goal USA of his time in Vancouver. "I came away from that experience feeling like I was lied to and never really given a fair chance to succeed."

Obviously, those are some pretty incendiary comments. However, Salgado does seem to acknowledge he played a role in his mis-steps with the Whitecaps, saying, " I can be man enough to admit that, I made mistakes and let my emotions get the better of me", while also saying he doesn't believe the transgressions were serious enough to decimate his chances with the club.

I can see where Salgado is coming from, given many of us called for the young American to get more looks at the striker position last year, the year the club hoped he would rise like a phoenix from his injury-riddled past and make some contributions on the pitch. He never got that chance, and it must have been incredibly frustrating for a guy chomping at the bit to make an impact. It's easy to follow that line of thinking and see why Salgado is angry; he was expecting more trust from the club that previously had the confidence to draft him first overall.

On the other hand, Salgado had a chance to make an impression on this club, and while his leash was much shorter than say, Darren Mattocks, he still didn't show the coaching staff enough to land him any regular playing time. Are we supposed to believe Carl Robinson and co. were so jaded at Salgado, that they were willing to sit a potential solution to their scoring problem for almost the entire season? They were pleading for somebody to step up and put some goals in the back of the net, and Salgado didn't do that, even if his time was limited. While his character problems seem to be softened when you consider the circumstances, he still did some incredibly immature things during training, and when you combine that with his lack of production, he really did make it a whole lot easier for the club to essentially banish him to the sidelines.

Whether you agree with Salgado or don't, it's unsettling to see this trend of Whitecap players (former or current), acting out against management. We saw Long Tan suspended after he ranted on twitter about his lack of playing time in 2012, we saw Darren Mattocks trash his front office in ridiculous interview with Jamaican television, and we saw Camilo leave entirely because he was upset with his paycheque. Add in Salgado mouthing off about his former club, and you have to wonder if there are some deeper problems with the Whitecaps and their communication with players.



That, or this is a case of a player protecting his ego by making excuses for his 4 years of disappointing play in Vancouver. For the Whitecaps and their brand, I would hope it's the latter.