There will be a homecoming in Vancouver as Canadian forward Lucas Cavallini will join the Whitecaps on a transfer from Liga MX club Puebla.
According to the Whitecaps, Cavallini is being added on a "club-record transfer fee" which sources told ESPN is worth as much as $6 million, with Toronto native Cavallini agreeing to a three-year contract with an option for 2023.
"I am happy to be here, happy for this opportunity, happy this club pushed for me, and it feels great." Cavallini said in a release. "I am thankful to a lot people here in Vancouver, from the ownership, to [sporting director] Axel Schuster and coach Marc Dos Santos.
"The team has brought me here for a reason and I have to do what I love to do, which is score goals and give the fans a lot to cheer about."
Cavallini, who turns 27 on Dec. 28, scored five goals with two assists in 17 games for Puebla this season. He spent eight seasons in all in Uruguay and Mexico and has totaled 84 goals for his clubs and for Canada's national team in that time.
"It's good that we bring a player that is coming home, but it's also a player that has proven in another league that he can score and do well. It's not only in Mexico, even in his moment when he had to grind and go to Uruguay, he started there to make a name for himself," Dos Santos told the club website.
"We're not doing this because he's Canadian, we're doing this because he shows the qualities that fit the way we want to play."
With the Canadian national team, Cavallini has scored 11 goals in 17 appearances, including goals against both Mexico and the United States.