The Vancouver Whitecaps have hired two New York Red Bulls away from the Big Apple and brought them to British Columbia as Whitecaps assistants, according to Martin MacMahon of MLSsoccer.com. The Whitecaps have hired Red Bulls midfielder 35-year-old Carl Robinson and Jake DeClute, who worked with Whitecaps manager Martin Rennie at the Cascade Surge and the Cleveland City Stars.
Of Robinson, Rennie said that he wanted somebody with MLS experience working with his players.
"I wanted to have someone on the staff who had MLS experience," Rennie told MLSsoccer.com on Friday. "He’s someone I’ve got to know over the last few years and I’ve been impressed with his knowledge of soccer and his knowledge of players."
While Robinson will be on the front lines, working with players and other coaches on the field, DeClute will be behind the scenes, recruiting and working in player development.
"[DeClute] is a highly qualified coach who studies the game in great detail and he’s great with people," Rennie said. "Jake will be more involved in the scouting, scouting the opposition, scouting other players and coordinating our scouting efforts. We need to centralize [scouting] and grow it a little bit, and he’ll also help with working with players as they transition from the academy to the first team."
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