Vancouver FC announced on Thursday the return of forward Mikaël Cantave and midfielders Vasco Fry and Renan Garcia on new deals through at least the 2024 season.
The trio of attackers all joined the club as mid-season additions during the squad’s inaugural campaign in 2023 and made considerable impacts as VFC hit its stride in the second half of the year. Cantave, Fry and Garcia combined for 40 appearances, six goals and four assists on the field from July 1, 2023, while adding their considerable experience and leadership off it. Vancouver went 5-5-1 in the final 11 games of the season with Cantave, Fry and Garcia in the squad, compared to the 2-6-4 record the team posted prior to making any mid-season signings.
“Mikaël, Vasco and Renan played key roles in transforming our selection in our inaugural season after joining VFC mid-season,” said Afshin Ghotbi, Head Coach, Vancouver FC. “Mikaël’s explosive vertical runs and goals were key in our surge at the end of the 2023 season. Vasco’s crushing tackles combined with his exquisite left foot created a great partner in midfield with Renan who himself was a big rock physically and mentally in the middle of the pitch.”
Cantave, 27, extends his stay in Vancouver by at least two years, inking a guaranteed contract with the club for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. The contract also includes a 2026 club option. The Canadian Haitian midfielder scored four goals and added two assists, tying a career high, for the Eagles in 2023, and twice earned nods in the CPL’s Gatorade Team of the Week. His six overall goals in 2023, including a pair for Cavalry FC before a mid-season transfer sent him Vancouver’s way, was a career high.
Fry, 23, began his VFC career on loan from the Vancouver Whitecaps in August 2023 and has now signed a guaranteed contract with the Eagles through the 2025 season, with a club option for 2026. The Canadian Peruvian midfielder scored once and added an assist in little more than two months with the club, earning a Gatorade Team of the Week nod in the penultimate week of the 2023 season.
Garcia, 37, was the definition of a leader from the moment he arrived in Vancouver as a mid-season signing in July. That influence plus his performance on the field, including a goal and an assist for Vancouver in 2023, has earned the Brazilian a one-year guaranteed contract with VFC, which includes a club option for the 2025 season.
“All three players will play an important role in our quest for the playoffs in 2024,” said Ghotbi.
Earlier this week, Vancouver announced the signing of East Vancouver local Ben Fisk to the 2024 squad on a two-year contract. Fisk’s deal marks the culmination of a previous transaction between Vancouver and Cavalry FC in December 2023, which saw the Eagles send the tenth overall pick in the 2024 CPL-U SPORTS Draft to Cavalry in exchange for the 15th overall draft pick and future considerations.
