Vancouver FC are going all-in on their youth movement. 

Having done well to move on two more promising young Canadian talents in James Cameron and Grady McDonnell this past off-season, the Eagles are looking to replicate a similar scenario with some of their newest youngsters again this campaign. 

Yet, while the club is proud of the work those youngsters did to make those moves, the role that those around them at the club played to help elevate them can’t be forgotten. 

A youth movement can only work if youngsters can learn from experienced players, ones who have played at a high level and won, helping them prepare to take that next step. 

For this Vancouver FC side, Alejandro Díaz has stepped up as one of those leaders. An extremely talented striker on the pitch, he’s also played a key role off it, doing well to embrace a leadership role as he reaches the end of his 20s. 

Having first arrived at the CPL a half-decade ago, joining the league at a time when the idea of youngsters getting regularly sold was not yet a reality, he’s seen a lot of growth, having facilitated a lot of it himself. 

Given that he’s now worked with a bunch of players who have made that jump between his stops with Pacific and Vancouver, he’s proud of the work they’ve done and is looking forward to pushing this next generation. 

“Yeah, it’s a different role, but it’s good,” Díaz told CanPL.ca “This is what the CPL is for, right? To take young Canadians, build them up, and then sell them so they can play in the top leagues in Europe. That’s good and the team is focusing on that, so if we as veteran players can help develop these young players, that’s amazing for us, so we try to do that every day.”

Of course, he’s not the only veteran player Vancouver can rely upon in that quest, however. In fact, Díaz can count on some new veteran teammates after this off-season, and they’re familiar faces, as former Pacific teammates Kunle Dada-Luke and Terran Campbell have joined the club, reuniting with their former striker. 

All members of Pacific’s 2021 North Star Cup winning team, along with goalkeeper and club captain Callum Irving, bring all sorts of experience to this team, which will be invaluable to help this youth development, while also elevating the teams’ odds of winning in the here and now. 

Because of that, Díaz is excited to be back with Dada-Luke and Campbell, knowing that the chemistry they share is only going to help push this team forward. 

“The experience of Kunle and Terran in the CPL is huge,” Díaz offered. “Terran is one of the top scorers in the league, and it’s great to play with him, Kunle gave us a lot of assists when we played with him, so we’re all excited to be back together. It’s easier since we already know each other, we don’t have to spend as much time in preseason getting to learn about each other, that connection is already there, and you can see it in the friendlies. We’re looking forward to having the season start so we can show in the first game what we can do throughout the season. We know that we have a young team, but we also have a lot of quality, and we want to show that to everyone.”

In particular, Campbell’s arrival is seen as a big one. For a Vancouver team that scored the second-fewest goals in the CPL last season, bringing in a goalscorer of Campbell’s pedigree is a big coup. 

Having scored the most combined regular season and playoff goals in the CPL’s history with 39, he’ll be expected to play a key role up front for his new side, helping deliver the goals he’s made a habit of scoring throughout his career while putting the frustration of an injury-filled 2024 campaign where he failed to score a league goal behind him. 

Helping him score those goals, however? Díaz, who himself is no slouch in front of goal — he sits just one goal behind Campbell in second place on that table with 38 goals and is coming off a 10-goal season for Vancouver. 

Close friends from their time at Pacific, the two strikers pushed each other for that goalscoring record when they were apart, but will now put that race aside as they combine for a common goal, which is to help Vancouver win games to push for a trophy. 

No doubt, they’ll continue to push each other internally, as one would expect two strikers to do, but they won’t mind if one scores more than the other as long as the team wins, such is their mentality – which is exactly why Vancouver is happy to have them paired together again. 

“I think having competition within the team is good,” Díaz said of Campbell’s arrival. “Once we were on different teams, that was a competition we had, because we wanted to reach the top, but once you’re in the same team, we fight for each other. For sure, we provide each other with competition, but that’s great for us because it makes him better, and it makes me better. We have had a really good relationship since we were at Pacific. We understand each other on the pitch, but it’s good to have competition.”

“Now, you have to be performing every single day at 100% because you have that competition in your team, so if we can put our qualities together and keep working as we did when we were before, we can score a lot of goals together. It doesn’t matter, at the end of the day, how many goals I end up with, or he ends up with, we want to be champions, we only want to win, and he has that mentality as well.”

Despite his 10-goal season in 2025, however, Díaz is far from satisfied with his play. In particular, he’s been working to find a way to score even more goals. 

One way he’s doing that? By becoming more involved defensively, something he’s worked with head coach Afshin Ghotbi on since the start of preseason, doing so with the hope it leads to more dangerous chances for him and his teammates.

“I think this is the best form he’s been in since I’ve had him,” Ghotbi said. “In preseason, he’s scoring a lot of goals, and I’ve seen him finish many chances in training. For him, though, it’s not about him finishing the chances, it’s about the frequency of the chances that he creates for himself and the frequency of chances that we create for him. I spoke to him about how sometimes the service won’t come, but that as a striker you can defend in a way where you can win certain tackles and certain second balls so that out of nothing, you can create a goal for yourself.”

“Funnily enough, we recently played in a friendly game, and he won the ball off an opponent, skinned two players, which we don’t see him do very often, and then rolled toward the back post and scored. I love to see that because it’s an addition to his game and it augments his standards. Yet, he keeps on adding to his game, and because of that, he’ll get more goals.”

That just shows Díaz’s mentality, however. No matter the form he’s in, he’s always looking to improve, which is why he’s been one of the most consistent strikers in the CPL since his arrival. 

Now, he’ll look to lead Vancouver to the playoffs for the first time. Despite having a young group, make no mistake – this is a team that wants to make the postseason and push for trophies. 

Having Díaz lead the way with another strong season will go a long way in that quest, so look for him to step up in a big way in 2025. 

If this group is going to reach their goals, more consistency is going to be a must after an up-and-down 2024 season, one that saw them miss the playoffs by just four points after they suffered a late-season slump. 

Díaz knows that, and is pushing this group to find that balance in terms of their overall play, something they’ll look to show off as soon as they take the field for the first time in CPL action early next month. 

“It’s all about going step by step and trying to win one game at a time,” Díaz offered. “Then, if you win one game, it doesn’t mean you’re the best, but if you lose one game, it doesn’t mean you’re the worst team either. Then, individually, if you have one good game, it doesn’t mean you’re the best player, and if you have a bad game, it doesn’t mean you are the worst.”

“So we’re trying to find that balance, but I think with our young guys, they’re smart, and they already know what it means to win or lose, and if you do something well, you have to be consistent at it. If you’re good for one year, two years, or three years, that means you’re good, but until you do that, you cannot believe that you are the best. They already know that, so it’ll be important for us and the team, we can be a lot more consistent.”