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Sebastian Berhalter’s transfer to Middlesbrough isn’t yet complete, he’s only been out of the Whitecaps’s fold for a few days, but it’s already blatantly obvious how much trouble the MLS team is in without him.
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Sporting director Axel Schuster needs to find a replacement, fast.
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This is the challenge of being a top MLS side that also is tight on budget: you chase after young players, players who could very well come into their own and then be targets for bigger, richer clubs abroad.
That’s happened with Berhalter, just as it happened with Pedro Vite last year. Two seasons, two top box to box midfielders gone.
If it was ever clear how badly the Whitecaps need a player in the mould of Vite or Berhalter, it’s right now, with both of them gone. The Whitecaps played in Cincinnati on Wednesday and then again in Minneapolis on Saturday.
The Vancouver Whitecaps FC starting XI pose for a group photo before the first half against Minnesota United FC at Allianz Field on July 25, 2026. Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn /Getty Images
In Cincinnati, they fell 4-3 despite a ferocious fight-back after falling behind early. They came close several times to tying the game up, but it was too little too late in a game that had been very loosely played, lacking the kind of control that Berhalter had brought to the pitch every week from defensive midfield.
And again, Saturday in Minnesota, the Caps were lacking a cutting edge in midfield. The game never got any flow and it’s no surprise it finished a 0-0 draw.
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There’s lots of high quality still in the lineup, with Ryan Gauld starting in attacking midfield on Wednesday, Thomas Muller in the same spot on Saturday. What a duo to choose from. Brian White leading the front line? The likes of Edier Ocampo, Tristan Blackmon and Ranko Veselinovic in the backline? Andres Cubas, Bruno Caicedo, Jeevan Badwal, Cheikh Sabaly spread around the midfield? Ralph Priso, Emmanuel Sabbi and Kenji Cabrera in the infirmary but hopefully back soon?
That’s a good squad that could be great again if the right midfielder is added to it.
Sam Adekugbe #3 of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC shoots during the second half against Minnesota United FC at Allianz Field on July 25, 2026. Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn /Getty Images
And it’s imperative they do: this is a team that surged to the summit of Major League Soccer based on the strength of their double pivot, with Cubas and Berhalter directing the flow of play.
All due respect to the other options in midfield at the moment, but there’s just not enough there right now.
The squad must be bulked up, somehow, some way.
Heck if Inter Miami can sign Casemiro — and how did they pull that off, by the way? — the Whitecaps can find a quality midfielder, surely.
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