Forge sign Canada striker Lucas Cavallini on a free transfer
The 33-year-old arrives from Liga MX side Puebla with 40 caps and 19 goals for Canada, days after Manjrekar James was brought back.
· by Colin Radek · transfers · roster · cpl shield · canadian championship
Forge FC added a Canadian international striker on Friday, signing 33-year-old Lucas Cavallini on a free transfer just days after re-acquiring defender Manjrekar James. The club said he is expected to be available immediately.
The numbers behind the name are real ones. Cavallini has 40 caps for Canada and 19 goals between 2012 and 2023, which ties him for fourth all-time in men's national team history. He played at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after scoring a handful of goals in qualifying, though he has not appeared for Canada in over three years and has never been called up by current head coach Jesse Marsch.
Head coach and sporting director Bobby Smyrniotis framed the move as much about standards as goals. "Lucas is a proven goalscorer at the highest levels of our region, and a player who has represented Canada on the biggest stage," he said in Friday's release, adding that Cavallini brings a physical presence, hunger in the box and international pedigree, and that the club was excited to welcome him to Hamilton.
The career behind that is nearly 15 years long. Born in Toronto and raised in Mississauga, Cavallini left Canada at 16 with close friend and now-Toronto FC captain Jonathan Osorio to join Club Nacional's youth setup in Uruguay, earning a first-team contract while Osorio came home. Spells with Juventud de Las Piedras, CA Fenix and CA Penarol followed before a move to Club Puebla, where he became one of Liga MX's more reliable strikers.
In December 2019 he joined the Vancouver Whitecaps as a Designated Player for a club-record fee, scoring 18 goals in 68 appearances in all competitions and winning the 2022 Canadian Championship. He returned to Liga MX in 2023 with a brief stint at Tijuana, rejoined Puebla in 2024, then suffered back-to-back ACL injuries and played very little. He left the club this summer.
The timing is the interesting part. Forge are still chasing a domestic treble, sitting second on 46 points after 22 games and close behind Cavalry in the Shield race, with the Canadian Championship final also ahead. Saturday's trip to Calgary finished 1-1, which keeps the title question open heading into Vancouver FC away on September 26. Whether Cavallini's knees allow for a meaningful run-in is the obvious question, but as a free transfer with that resume, the downside is limited.