Whitecaps sign midfielder Mark Watson
Posted December 16, 2011 1:43 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Vancouver Whitecaps on Friday added some depth in the middle of the park by signing midfielder Mark Watson to a contract.
Watson, a 26-year-old Englishman, has spent the past three years in the second-tier North American Soccer League with the Carolina RailHawks where he played under current Whitecaps coach Martin Rennie.
He’s also played for the Richmond Kickers of the USL Second Division and the Baltimore Blast of the Major Indoor Soccer League.
Heralded by Rennie as “one of the best players at the North American second division level,” Watson has never played in Major League Soccer.
“He has had several offers to join (MLS) teams, so I am really pleased that he has chosen to take the next step in his career with Vancouver Whitecaps FC,” Rennie said in a news release.
Last season, the Watson scored three goals in 24 appearances for Carolina, and made 107 total appearances (98 as a starter) for the RailHawks.
“I’m thrilled to be playing for Martin again, and now at the highest level of professional soccer in North America,” said Watson. “Vancouver have a great fan base and an excellent organization. I can’t wait to get the season underway.”
It hardly comes as a surprise that the Whitecaps picked up Watson after recently parting ways with two midfielders.
Vancouver saw Jeb Brovksy go to the Montreal Impact in last month’s expansion draft, and lost Nizar Khalfan to the Philadelphia Union in the waiver draft.
The signing of Watson comes a day after the Whitecaps acquired Lee Nguyen, another midfielder, through MLS’s weighted lottery. Nguyen was entered into the weighted lottery after he turned down a MLS contract when he was in college at Indiana University as a freshman.
