Everyone wants to know, What’s wrong with the Whitecaps? The short answer is, lot’s. But the offensive struggles plaguing the Caps, can for the most part be attributed to the lack of a true #10.

When Pedro Morales arrived in March of 2014, he was praised for being the high quality chance creator the team had been missing since the departure of Davide ‘The Swiss Ronaldhino’ Chiumiento. Although Pedro’s production started to slow down towards the latter half of that season, he still put up some very good numbers (10 goals 10 assists) and was rewarded by being named Newcomer of the Year in MLS.

Injuries caught up with Pedro in 2015 and, with his absences/loss of form, the Caps’ offence went with him. He’s since lost the mobility necessary to be an effective #10, which is why he’s being transitioned into the less physically demanding role of a deep-lying playmaker.

As a result of Pedro pushing deeper into the midfield, Nicolas Mezquida’s been handed the keys to the Caps’ offence. Unfortunately, even though he’s done some good things, a #10 he’s not.

The classic #10 is an attacking midfielder, who plays in the space between the midfield and defensive lines, best defined by his ability to create opportunities for his teammates. This ability can be quantified by the ‘Key Pass’ stat, which is any pass to a teammate that leads directly to a shot on goal.

If we look at KeyPs made so far in MLS, you can see that the best #10s are averaging more than 3 KeyPs per game.

Now if we look at the Caps’ KeyPs, you can see that Christian Bolaños is currently leading the team at just 1.5 per game, and that our incumbent #10, Nico, is averaging a paltry 0.6.





The numbers tell us Nico either isn’t looking for his teammates, or he doesn’t have the ability to find them. Either way, an upgrade at the position needs to be made a top priority heading into next season. You need only look down the I-5 to see what kind of effect a quality #10 can have on a team’s season – the acquisition of Nicolas Lodeiro has single-handedly resuscitated the corpse that was the Seattle Sounders.

Taking all of the above into account, if I were the Caps, I’d spend all of my allowance on Montpellier’s Algerian attacking mid Riyad Boudebouz. Last season in Ligue 1, he finished second in KeyPs (3.1) and third in assists (11). Having transferred from Bastia for just €1.7m in 2015, and currently valued at €4.5m, he might still be in an MLS price range.

Checkout Riyad’s skills below, he’s a tekkers delight.

Let me know who you think the Caps should target in the comments section. 🤘