VANCOUVER, BC – Vancouver Whitecaps FC exercised the 2015 contract options on nine players and declined the contract options on five others on Monday.
One name that jumped out amongst the declined quintet was Uruguayan midfielder/striker Sebastian Fernandez.
Fernandez was on a one-year loan deal from Montevideo-based side Boston River with an option to buy, and although Whitecaps FC were keen to have the Uruguayan back in Vancouver, head coach Carl Robinson was forced to admit that the figures just didn't allow a deal to be done.
"Seba was on a season-long loan with a very big option price," Robinson told reporters on Monday afternoon. "Unfortunately we can't pick that option up and we're probably going to lose Seba. When you get a player on loan, you're not going to get a good player for free."
"There's always a loan option price in it and unfortunately that option price was too high for us to buy. We did talk about trying to bring him back on a similar deal but that wasn't possible, so unfortunately we're going to lose Seba and he's going to sign down in South America."
Fernandez played in all but two of Vancouver's MLS games last season, contributing five goals, and Robinson revealed last month that he was hopeful that they could bring the player back to Vancouver next season if the figures added up.
The 'Caps coach was down in South America last week and had a meeting with Fernandez to see the latest. It soon became clear that a deal was not likely to be forthcoming and Whitecaps FC have already set their sights on working on finding his replacement.
"We spoke to Seba and his representatives about maybe coming back," Robinson said. "There were productive talks about it, but they hit a wall if I can say it that way. Seba and his agent had made it clear that there wasn't a possibility, so rather than waste time dwelling on that I look for another position now."
"We'll find someone. Will they be as good as Seba or better? Well I'm looking to find someone better than Seba. That's not saying that Seba wasn't a very good player, he did very well for us last year, but there's hundreds of players out there. It's important we find the right ones now."
Despite the turnover in the 'Camps camp, Robinson is happy with how his squad is already shaping up for next season and won't be rushed into bringing in new players.
"There are things in place that we are working on at the moment," Robinson said. "There's going to be four or five new additions into the club next year. Exciting additions. We'll still renegotiate with certain players to try and bring them back but as with all clubs in MLS, there's a period of change and freshness."
"We won't make any trades just for the sake of making trades just show everyone that we're doing things. if you rewind to this time last year, we're certainly in a better position than we were then."
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