The Internet was thrown into a frenzy recently when Sportsnet’s Dan Riccio reported that the Vancouver Whitecaps had contacted Chelsea to inquire about the services of Olivier Giroud. This has left British people desperately trying to figure out if we speak French in Vancouver and Whitecaps fans mostly unconvinced that there was ever any serious possibility that the move would happen. But let’s put all the aside for a moment and imagine how Giroud would fit in if he was signed. I have been doing just this and have come to the conclusion that he would fit in rather well.

Obviously Giroud is really good. Although he’s 33 he’s still a big part of the French national team and scoring regularly for Chelsea (mostly in the Europa League but still). He’d be a top 10 striker in MLS easily and perhaps the top 5. But Stylistically I think he’d compliment what the ‘Caps currently have really well. Consider the following;

I am anticipating that the Whitecaps will have Yordy Reyna and Michaell Chirinos on the wings. It is possible that neither of those players will even be on the team but them being the two first choice wingers seems the most likely scenario at the moment. Both Chirinos and Reyna are shoot first players. They have more career goals than assists, took more shots than they had key passes, and generated more xG than xA (N.B that Reyna had a pretty even amount of xG and xA in his two previous seasons but he was the shooter much more frequently than the set up man in 2019). A target man who could hold up the ball and play them into good positions makes a lot of sense. In the 2019 season one of the many problems the Whitecaps had with scoring goals was that some of their heaviest volume shooters were all shooting from terrible positions. Somebody who can be a pivot around which forward moves can be built in the attacking 3rd would go some way to mitigate this problem. Both Reyna and Chirinos have played their best football when paired with this sort of striker. Giroud is, even at 33, quite possibly the best target man in the world so there isn’t really anyone better to play that role for them.

Another player I think Giroud would pair well with is In-Beom Hwang. In-Beom lead the Whitecaps in key passes in 2019. But despite assisting 49 shots Hwang only generated 3.3 expected assists. I found in an article back in August that this was because Hwang was playing the ball into the final 3rd and the players he was passing to were trying absurd shots from distance which had very little chance of going in. Here’s a little refresher on what some of his key pass maps looked like:

Now have a look at the way Giroud plays on these maps from the 2018/19 season via player evaluation platform smarterscout.com

This may seem confusing at first look. White squares are shots, blue squares are short passes, yellow squares are long passes, and purple squares are dribbles. The bigger the square the more commonly Giroud does that action in that area. As you can see Giroud regularly plays short passes in those areas where other players were attempting speculative efforts of In-Beom passes. Giroud tries very few shots from distance, preferring to link up play with other players before moving into prime scoring areas. This could be an effective counterbalance to the very direct shoot first wingers the Whitecaps have and prevent the team from being so wasteful when entering the opposition 3rd.

I would be remiss if I didn’t quickly mention that giving Ali Adnan a big target to aim at will help to maximize his attacking potential. Crosses are a low percentage method of scoring and shouldn’t be relied on but you need to do them sometimes and if you are going to do them then Adnan crossing to Giroud is about as good a combination you can ask for in MLS.

Ah, but, here’s the thing...

Vancouver is apparently not on Giroud’s list of cities in North America he is willing to move too. It’s unlikely that any of the cities that are on his list would be interested in him so perhaps there will be a change in his willingness to give Vancouver a try but it’s unlikely he will join. Fortunately for you i’ve identified some players who do some similar things that might be more feasible targets. I tried to limit the players to leagues the Whitecaps may be targeting (leagues with winter breaks essentially), and didn’t include players who have recently changed clubs. To be 100% clear to any rumour sites that might be reading this, there is no evidence that most of these players are actually transfer targets. This is just me making some suggestions. So if you say “according to Eighty Six Forever the Whitecaps are closing in on X”, then you’re going to look awfully silly aren’t you. So I don’t want to see any of that nonsense. Glad we sorted that out. Here are the players i’ve identified ascending order of how exciting I find them.

Andrija Pavlovic:

Club: Copenhagen (on loan to Apoel)

Age: 25

In 2016 Pavlovic scored 18 goals in the Serbian first division for Cukaricki. This earned him a move to FC Copenhagen. But there he was used mostly as a sub despite a pretty decent goal per minute ratio. He was loaned to Rapid Vienna where he only scored 4 time in the league as his club struggled. That loan was ended and now he’s moved to Apoel where he has 6 goals in 10 appearances. The thing is though, the quality of his shots was still pretty good in Austria, he just didn’t get to take many of them. So if you’re the Whitecaps and you’re really confident in the midfield upgrades you’re going to make then Pavlovic might be a sneaky buy low candidate who would light it up in the right circumstances.

Pavlovic shoots from distance a bit more than i’d like but he’s very active in the buildup and as you can see from his highlights package he is at least pretty good at the long shots.

Danny Hoeson:

Club: San Jose Earthquakes

Age: 28

Hoesen found himself mostly being used as a sub under Matias Almeyda. But his goals per minute and underlying stats remained exceptionally good. He also managed 12 goals on the terrible 2018 Eathquakes. He’s averaged 1.5 key passes per 90 minutes in MLS so he can set up his teammates as well as score goals. Like Pavlovic, Hoesen shoots from distance more than I would like but beyond that I really like what he brings to the table. A Chirinos-Hoesen-Reyna front three might not have much star power but it would almost certainly score goals.

Jackson Muleka:

Club: TP Mazembe

Age: 22 (or maybe 20 but i’m pretty sure Transfermarkt is wrong)

Jackson Muleka is one of the top young African talents still playing in his domestic league. Though he definitely is the sort of guy who’s signing would make the VWFC supporters facebook group go apoplectic I like him a lot. He was tied for the top scorer in the African Champions league last year and has reportedly drawn interest from Anderlecht and Marseille. Getting him has proven difficult though. TP Mazembe are one the most successful clubs in African football, having won the African champions league 5 times and being club world cup runners up in 2009. They are fiercely protective of their players when foreign clubs come calling. One of their other players, Meschack Elia is currently embroiled in a legal dispute as he tries to sign for Swiss club Young Boys while TP Mazembe insist he is still under contract with them. But, with Jasser Khmiri, the Whitecaps have shown they are willing to do what it takes to beat European clubs to African talent. Muleka is less of a target man than the other strikers on this list but his linkup play and aerial ability are strong enough and he makes up for it with speed and technical ability. I am particularly impressed by the confidence he shows to do things like chip the goalkeeper.

Nicholas Ibáñez:

Club: Atletico Madrid (On loan to Atletico de San Luis)

Age: 25

Ibáñez is technically an Atletico Madrid player but he has never played for them. He was bought after a prolific start San Luis, who Atletico partially own. Now that he’s 25 they may be interested in cashing in on him. Ibáñez has a pretty good goal scoring record in the Argentine first division (0.35 goals per 96), was prolific in the Mexican second division (0.78 goals per 96) and is off to a good start in the Mexican top division (0.5 goals per 96). He’s a good finisher, strong in link up play and has surprisingly good defensive stats for a striker suggesting he may be well suited to a pressing system (if, indeed that is still a thing the ‘Caps are trying to do).

Erick “Cubo” Torres

Age: 26

Club: Tijuana

Torres is a player who has never really lived up to his potential. But he’s had multiple double digit seasons in MLS (and also two seasons where he didn’t score any goals but let’s put that to one side for now), is a former MLS all star and currently finds himself mostly being used as a sub for Tijuana. Torres plays a lot of high risk passes so he looses the ball often but he also played a ton of key passes while playing for Houston so he is able to set up his teammates as well. Torres is a volume shooter, meaning he will need a lot of shots to be an effective scorer. The Whitecaps are going to need to improve on this regardless of how good the striker they bring in is, so I don’t see this as too big a strike against Torres.

Lucas Cavallini

Age: 26

Club: Puebla

The Whitecaps were reportedly close to landing Cavallini in the summer. The two clubs apparently agreed to terms but Cavallini was unwilling to move because his wife was about to give birth to their second child (he turned down a Canada call up around the same time for the same reason). Cavallini is not the biggest striker but his jumping ability and general scrappiness allow him to operate as a target striker in a way players his size normally can’t. He’s mobile, he works hard, his link up play is pretty good and he can score goals. In many ways he’s an ideal fit for the way the Whitecaps are striving to play (or the way they say they are striving to play). But since the summer Cavallini has continued his good form which may have upped the asking price.

Rogelio Funes Mori

Age: 28

Club: Monterrey

Under normal circumstances I would say Funes Mori is way beyond Vancouver’s reach. But if they were willing to pay for Giroud then Funes Mori should definitely be on the table. Funes Mori is one of the top strikers currently playing in the Americas. Like Giroud he would immediately be a top 10 striker in MLS if not in the top 5 (plus he’s 5 years younger). He would command a hefty transfer fee but the recent transfer of Vincent Janssen to Monterrey may make them a little more willing to part with him. Not only is he very good, Funes Mori offers a lot of the same positives that I identified from Giroud earlier in this article. He has good link up play, is strong in the air and doesn’t shoot from ludicrous areas.