Emerging sa国际传媒 Under-20 and Pacific FC defender Christian Greco-Taylor, along with three PFC academy players, will get the training camp experience of a lifetime over the next two weeks with Bundesliga club VfL Bochum 1848.
Island-based Pacific FC of the Canadian Premier League signed a working relationship with VfL Bochum in May of 2024 and Greco-Taylor, 19, is in Bochum, Germany, located in North Rhine-Westphalia, along with 16-year-old PFC academy players Will Edgson, Mattias Hallam and Mattias Vales to train with Bochum’s U-21 team.
“The Bundesliga is one of the top-five leagues in the world and we are excited about our project with Bochum,” said PFC head coach James Merriman.
“To give these young players this experience, where the culture of and passion for football is so strong, will be invaluable to them. You can’t teach that in sa国际传媒. They will bring that back with them.”
Edgson, Hallam and Vales all attend St. John’s Academy in Shawnigan Lake and play for the Vancouver Island Wave, which is PFC’s academy program.
Calgary native Greco-Taylor is considered one of the prize prospects in the CPL and was key on the back line, appearing in all three games for sa国际传媒, in the CONCACAF Under-20 championship last year.
“We lead the CPL most seasons with minutes played by U-21 players and Greco-Taylor was a big part of that last season for us and will be again this season,” said Merriman.
“These young players have ambitions and that’s what we try to foster and why PFC was formed.”
It’s no different at the more veteran end of things and Merriman touched on the on-going negotiations with Starlight Stadium crowd-favourite, box-to-box attacking-defender Kunle Dada-Luke, 25, who has played 117 games for PFC since 2021 and is a free agent. The 2025 FIFA winter transfer window opened Jan. 1 and closes Feb. 3.
“We love Kunle and are still in conversations with him,” said Merriman.
“He is ambitious and eyes Europe or MLS and we have to respect his ambition.”
The 2025 CPL season begins in April.
