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Whitecaps waive Nguyen

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It's MLS roster compliance day, and there has already been one surprising development ahead of the 5 p.m. deadline.

The Vancouver Whitecaps waived one-time U.S. international Lee Nguyen, a player acquired through the league's weighted lottery process less than three months ago after returning to the United States following career stops in Europe and Vietnam.

As a result of winning the lottery for Nguyen's services, the Whitecaps are prohibited from taking part in any other player lotteries for the rest of the season. The lottery system, which has been used to allocate players such as Luis Gil and David Bingham in recent years, is typically reserved for late-addition Generation adidas signings or SuperDraft-eligible players who did not sign with the league prior to the draft.

The Whitecaps were not over the 30-man roster limit heading into Thursday, nor would he have occupied an international roster slot, making the move a curious one, considering that Nguyen was thought to add a useful attacking dynamic to the Whitecaps midfield.

The Dallas-area native had recently been involved in a Twitter controversy over a homophobic slur used as a joke toward teammate Brad Knighton, but he issued an apology and had been issued a warning by the club, with no further discipline being required.  

Nguyen will be available in tomorrow's 3 p.m. MLS Waiver Draft, where he could find out his next destination. The other teams that showed interest in Nguyen during his lottery were Toronto FC, FC Dallas, Real Salt Lake, the Los Angeles Galaxy and Houston Dynamo.

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What do you think of this development? Would you like to see your team claim Nguyen in the waiver draft?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. A glut of attackers is not a bad thing. I see no foolishness in bringing in a bunch of dudes and keeping the best and cheapest. I think it boiled down to Nguyen not standing out, being outplayed by others, earning more than the players outplaying him, and being expendable because he lacked the tenure to have a guaranteed deal.

    I see an improved VW offense my question would be whether they patched up the problematic defense to be competitive. They were both offensively and defensively shocking and I’m not sure you make the playoffs allowing 50+ goals even if you score more like 45 instead of last year’s 35. But incrementally better.

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  2. I wouldn’t be surprised either way but he does not strike me as a Kinnear-type. He’s more a connect the dots Torres/McCarty-type one/two touch player without as much skill. My memory was of us running Koke, who was that type of “soft” player too, out of town within two months.

    But he would offer a change of pace from what would otherwise be a very “hard man” central midfield of Moffat, Camargo, and Sturgis. I think Houston needs a real playmaker, and Nguyen could in a pinch come in and offer more finesse, though I don’t think he’s the level of quality needed.

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