Report: Whitecaps nearing club-record deal for Lucas Cavallini

Lucas Cavallini is set to become a star name for the new-look Vancouver Whitecaps.

The Canadian international is close to leaving Puebla and joining 2019's second-worst team in Major League Soccer for a club-record $6-million fee, according to ESPN's Jeff Carlisle. Cavallini has agreed to a four-year contract with the Whitecaps.

Atlas are also interested in Cavallini but Puebla are reluctant to offload the forward to a rival team in Liga MX.

Cavallini, 26, was born in Toronto but has never played in his homeland. He progressed through the youth system at Nacional and represented three further clubs in Uruguay before moving to Puebla in 2017. He's scored 11 goals in 17 appearances for Canada.

Vancouver finished bottom of the Western Conference last season while logging a paltry 37 goals across 34 regular-season matches. Fredy Montero, who is in his second stint with the Whitecaps, was the club's top league scorer with eight tallies.

The Whitecaps' failure to reach the MLS postseason in back-to-back years has prompted an overhaul at BC Place, with former Mainz and Schalke executive Axel Schuster appointed sporting director in November.