A familiar face is returning to the Canadian Premier League, as Vancouver Football Club announced on Tuesday that they have acquired Mexican striker Alejandro ‘Wero’ Díaz on a one-year loan from Norwegian side Sogndal Fotball.

Díaz is the reigning Golden Boot winner in the CPL, having scored 13 goals in just 18 games for Pacific FC in 2022 before transferring to Norway in August. The 27-year-old native of Mexico City has 25 career goals in the league, and is currently third on the CPL’s list of all-time leading goalscorers, trailing Forge FC’s Terran Campbell (34) and Pacific FC’s Easton Ongaro (29).

He first signed for Pacific FC in 2020 from his hometown club, Liga MX giants Club América — with whom he made 39 appearances, including five in the Concacaf Champions League, which they won in back-to-back years in 2015 and 2016. Over three years at Pacific, Díaz scored 31 goals in 62 games across all competitions, including a hat-trick in the 2022 Concacaf League to lift the Tridents past Jamaican side Waterhouse. He was also part of the Pacific side that won the CPL championship in 2021.

In conversation with CanPL.ca this week, Díaz explained that he was thrilled at the chance to return to Canada, a country where he truly broke out as a professional.

“For every soccer player, we just want to play and we just want to keep on going,” Díaz said. “I already know the league and I know a lot of people here, so I just wanted to come back to Canada. Me and my wife, we’re super grateful for the CPL, for Canada, because they opened the doors for us to enjoy football again, to score goals, to play and have some minutes. We have a special bond with Canada, so that was an easy decision.”

Of course, Díaz will be met with plenty of familiar faces from his Pacific FC days at VFC. He won a CPL title with now-Vancouver teammates Callum Irving and Kadin Chung, and he’ll also be familiar with club CEO Rob Friend.

Last summer, Pacific sold Díaz to Sogndal in the Norwegian second division for a club-record fee, at which point he was leading the league with 13 goals. No CPL player was able to catch him in the latter half of the season, and he was therefore awarded the league’s Golden Boot award in October at the conclusion of the campaign.

In Norway, Díaz was a key part of Sogndal’s push for promotion to the top flight, scoring six goals in 11 games last year, but the club just missed out on the playoffs. In the current season, minutes have been a little harder to come by for Díaz, who hadn’t yet scored in eight appearances, leading to an opportunity for him to return to Canada on loan.

“The football over there was a little bit more tactical, the way they played was a little bit faster,” Díaz said of his experience in Norway. “I learned a lot tactically, so I think that’s a big part in my game that I improved. It’s kind of similar, there’s a lot of physical play over there so I think I gained a lot of experience in that way.”

He added that he’s always kept an eye on the CPL in his time overseas. In fact, Díaz revealed that at times in Norway he would stay up late just to watch live games, including several of Vancouver’s.

Díaz arrived back in B.C. this past weekend and trained with his new club for the first time on Monday. Although it’s just an early impression, he was impressed with the experience of Afshin Ghotbi and his technical staff, as well as the young talent in the squad.

“The coaching staff has a lot of experience, and they’re great guys,” Díaz said. “Since the moment I came to the locker room, to the club, they were so nice and everyone received me really well. With the players, I think there’s a lot of quality and also a lot of young guys with a lot of quality. I think that’s going to be great; during training it was amazing, we had really good connections.”

As a 27-year-old with 41 professional goals to his name, Díaz feels he can be both the impact attacking force Vancouver need right now, as well as a veteran with experience around the world that can help push a young team forward. VFC currently sit bottom of the CPL standings with just 13 goals scored this season, so the injection of Díaz’s goalscoring prowess could help boost them for a late run up the table.

Díaz has a wide skillset as a striker, but his greatest asset is his nose for the goal — his ability to get into just the right space to receive the ball and finish. Ghotbi has spoken extensively this year about the value he places on players who he calls “goal-dangerous,” and there’s perhaps never been a more goal-dangerous player in the CPL than Díaz — who joked that it’ll be tough to win the Golden Boot in half a season again, but something he’ll at least try for.

“We are thrilled to add Alejandro, who has proven he can not only score but dominate in attack in the Canadian Premier League,” said Ghotbi. “As we enter the summer transfer window, we have an opportunity to improve our selection with new signings, and bringing in Alejandro certainly accomplishes that.”

He added: “With [Díaz’s] addition, we believe we greatly improve our chances to qualify for the playoffs and beyond in our inaugural season. Goals win games, and Díaz scores them in bunches.”

It’s still undetermined when exactly Díaz will make his debut with VFC, his most recent appearance being June 10 for Sogndal, but one date he’ll already have circled on the calendar is August 19: Pacific FC’s next visit to Langley to play Vancouver.

“Now I’m with Vancouver; I’m going to fight for them and work hard for Vancouver,” Díaz said at the prospect of taking on his former club. “It’s going to be a great match, for sure it’s a good rivalry. I think that’s going to keep on going during the years and it’s going to be a special game, but I’m going to be 100 per cent with Vancouver.”

Díaz suggested he doesn’t think he’d celebrate wildly if he scored against his former club, but he’s certainly hoping to get on the scoresheet for the first time before that game.

El Wero is back in the Canadian Premier League, but he’ll be in different colours now. The B.C. Derby is about to become even more exciting.