Xausa going to the Whitecaps?

[Alberto7]

From Canada.com

Xausa to make 'Cap history

Homegrown striker would be first to sign a multi-year contract

Dan Stinson

Vancouver Sun

Monday, January 19, 2004

Davide Xausa could be first player to sign multi-year Whitecap contract.

CREDIT: Vancouver Sun

Striker Davide Xausa, a 27-year-old native of Anmore, B.C. who has played 32 times for Canada, is in negotiations with the Vancouver Whitecaps for a contract that, if signed, would make him the first player to agree to a multi-year deal with the A-League soccer team.

Whitecaps' director of operations Bob Lenarduzzi said talks with Xausa, who currently plays for Falkirk of the Scottish League First Division, are continuing and did not deny that the proposed deal covers the next three seasons.

"It's a multi-year deal, but nothing is confirmed yet," Lenarduzzi said. "I don't know that his signing is imminent but, hopefully, we're getting down to the final stages. I've been around the game too long to state outright that he will be signed."

Xausa's international career includes a 1995 stint with Canada's Olympic Games under-23 team which Lenarduzzi coached. The team failed to qualify for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Xausa went on to three-year career at the University of Portland (Ore.) and, following a trial with Portugal's Sporting Lisbon youth team, signed his first professional club contract in 1999 with Inverness of the Scottish League.

Xausa was transferred from Inverness to Livingston of the Scottish League in March 2001. He scored two goals for Inverness in its 4-1 victory over Dunfermline in a UEFA Cup tournament qualifying game in 2002. He was signed by Falkirk on Aug. 27, 2003.

Xausa could not be reached for comment.

Lenarduzzi said the Whitecaps may be embarking on a new era in the franchise's 17-year history where many players will be offered multi-year contracts as opposed to traditional one-year agreements.

He said the multi-year deals would reflect the long-term commitment of owner Greg Kerfoot, who stated that he would remain owner of both the Whitecaps men's and women's W-League teams for a minimum of five years when he came aboard in November 2002.

"We want to make a longer-term investment in the players," Lenarduzzi said. "It's principly designed to reflect the stability in the teams that we want to achieve."

The Whitecaps men kick off their 2004 season April 30 against the expansion Edmonton Aviators at Burnaby's Swangard Stadium.