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Reigning MLS Defender of the Year Tristan Blackmon has not reported to the Vancouver Whitecaps as of Wednesday for the start of preseason as he seeks an improved contract, sources briefed on the situation tell The Athletic. All players were due at the facility on Wednesday morning for entrance medicals to start preparations for the 2026 season.
Blackmon is currently under contract through 2027 and no new agreement between the two sides is imminent, sources say. Inter Miami made a bid worth around $3 million to acquire Blackmon last week, but the Whitecaps insist they don’t want to move the player – rather, they want to extend his stay.
“We firmly reject reports suggesting that we are close to completing the transfer of any of our players,” Whitecaps CEO Axel Schuster told The Athletic last week. “The situation is, in fact, the exact opposite.”
Blackmon was the 37th highest-paid player listed as a center back by the MLS Players Association last year, with a guaranteed compensation of $800,000. Whitecaps teammate Mathias Laborda was ahead of him, among others. The 29-year-old center back was one of the key driving forces behind Vancouver’s stellar 2025 season, which saw the club win the Canadian Championship while finishing runner-up in MLS Cup and the Concacaf Champions Cup – far and away the team’s best season as an MLS franchise.
Blackmon has made 141 appearances for the Whitecaps since arriving from LAFC in 2022 and earned his first two caps with the U.S. men’s national team this past fall.
It’s been a busy winter for Vancouver, which has already transferred Ali Ahmed to Norwich City and traded Jayden Nelson to Austin FC. The club remains in contract talks with Blackmon and star midfielder Sebastian Berhalter, whose 2026 option was exercised after last season.