By FRANCO PANIZO
A temporary solution has reportedly been found for the bizarre Andre Lewis situation.
The New York Cosmos told ESPNFC.com on Tuesday that they will allow Lewis to join the Vancouver Whitecaps for preseason preparations and will loan him to the MLS club for the upcoming season if he does enough to warrant a roster spot. Lewis, an Under-20 Jamaica midfielder, was taken by the Whitecaps with the seventh overall pick in last week’s MLS SuperDraft without the team knowing that he had signed a contract with NASL’s Cosmos.
With Lewis under contract with the Cosmos, Vancouver faced the real possibility of wasting a high draft pick on a player that would wind up playing elsewhere. Cosmos chief operating officer Erik Stover, however, has said the two clubs have reached a deal that will satisfy both sides, at least for now.
“We’ve reached an agreement for MLS to send Andre Lewis to Vancouver,” Stover told ESPNFC.com. “If the Whitecaps want to keep him after March 1, then we will finalize the arrangement as a loan with MLS.”
It seems likely that Lewis makes Vancouver’s roster given his talent and how highly he was drafted by the club. Still, playing time is not guaranteed and the Whitecaps will probably need to pay a transfer fee in the future if they wish to keep the young player that they initially thought was one of their own.
For the Cosmos, the astute move frees up an international roster spot while still keeping Lewis’ rights. NASL only allows its clubs to have seven internationals.
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What do you think of this whole ordeal? Happy to hear that Lewis will be in Vancouver this season? Do you think the Whitecaps will be willing to pay a transfer fee for him in the future?
Share your thoughts below.