It already constitutes an extreme makeover – arguably the biggest overhaul in the Canadian Premier League this offseason – and soon Phillip Dos Santos & Co. will begin to see the fruits of their labour.

Valour FC players report for medicals and testing this weekend and take to the pitch for the first-time next Tuesday leading into the fifth season in the franchise’s history.

And after back-to-back fifth place finishes in 2021 and 2022 – frustratingly just outside of the playoff line – Valour’s staff opted to make some significant changes over the winter. Moving on were familiar faces like Moses Dyer, Brett Levis, Stefan Cebara, Federico Pena, Rocco Romeo, Alex Riggi as well as Jonathan Sirois and Sean Rea, who were on loan from CF Montreal, while co-captain Daryl Fordyce retired and moved right into the team’s coaching staff.

That’s not to say there won’t be some returnees among the 23-24 players who will be at training on Tuesday — including midfielder Raphael Ohin, who missed all of last season with a knee injury – but that’s a ton of change.

And, again, that’s as planned.

“I have to say this: the staff has been incredible in what they’ve been doing,” said Dos Santos, the club’s GM and Head Coach. “None of us left Winnipeg this offseason. We stayed here and other than a week between Christmas and New Year worked really hard to get us to where we are today.

“I’m excited to see how it all comes together. This is the fun part, right? This is when we get to see what we’ve worked on and, yes, we are in the early stages and reality is we are a month and a half-two months from the start of the season, but this is where everything starts coming to life. This is where we start gluing the pieces and putting the puzzle together.”

Some key factors/questions for Valour fans to ponder as the club opens camp…

-The overhaul… why so much change?

Players like Dyer and Levis opted to move on – both landing with FC Tulsa – while CF Montreal exercised the options on loanees Sirois and Rea. That kind of roster turnover is inevitable every winter. But after last season’s fifth place finish the Valour staff opted to be bold in re-shaping the roster rather than taking the approach of running it back with many of the same players, as was the case heading into last year.

“We knew we wanted (roster) flexibility and we started to work on that very early so, in many ways, that helped us create a clear positional profile,” Dos Santos explained. “First and foremost, we wanted good players, but also players who fit what we want to be as a team. We haven’t played a game or even hit the ground but looking at the players we feel we’ve hit the mark with that. Now we’re looking forward to seeing how that translates on the field and how everyone looks when they start playing together.”

Critical in the overhaul was the decision to add players with CPL experiences like defenders Jordan Haynes and Abdou Samake, both of Pacific FC, along with midfielder Marcello Polisi (HFX Wanderers), while the return of a veteran like Ohin, who missed all of last year with a knee injury, and attacker Jared Ulloa, who was with the club in 2021 but spent last year with Cusco FC in Peru, could also help with the experience.

Also returning will be veteran defenders Andrew Jean-Baptiste and Andy Baquero, midfielders Diego Gutiérrez, Kevin Rendon, Matthew Catavolo, and forwards Matteo de Brienne, Walter Poncé and goalkeeper Rayane Yesli.

“When we talk about success in the offseason is that the majority of the guys we wanted are here,” said Dos Santos. “And we did that while we navigated the different restrictions like the salary cap and having the Under-21 (Canadian) players we do, who have a bit of a pedigree already. Look at Jared (Ulloa) – he played on a championship team last year and still contributed as a young player for 19 games. You look at Juan Pablo (Sanchez) who comes with some pedigree from Portugal and a history with Toronto FC. You look at Eskander (Mzoughi), who was an Under-20 international for a country (Tunisia) that has a lot of quality.”

-What does Dos Santos want this team to look like?

“You are who you are as a coach,” he said. “The team needs to be hard-working, needs to be a team that understands the different moments of the game. I don’t think you can predict all the time if you’re going to be on the ball or without the ball, if you’re going to be high or low on the pitch. The team needs to be prepared to cope with the different moments. So, we need to be a team that collectively recognizes the different moments in the game and responds to it. It has to be a team that likes to run, that likes to defend – that takes pleasure in defending the same way they take pleasure in attacking.

“It’s a team that has flexibility with a roster that has flexibility that allows us to change us structurally inside the same game or from game to game without the performance being affected. We need players that have a good football IQ and that’s what we’re always looking for.

“Yes, we feel (the offseason) was successful because we were able to get players that we wanted to have here. But success on paper means nothing unless it translates on the field and on the field it’s about results.”

-Where will the goals come from?

Dyer is Valour FC’s all-time leading scorer (19 goal in 54 matches, including nine in each of the last two seasons), while Rea, the CPL’s U-21 Player of the Year, had five goals and nine assists in 2022. Valour scored 36 goals last season – tied for third most in the CPL – and players no longer with the club accounted for 28 of them in Dyer (9), Rea (5), Riggi (3), Willy Akio, Cebara, Levis, Romeo and Billy Forbes (2, each) and Fordyce (1).

“I’m actually more comfortable with the options I have up top this year,” said Dos Santos. “I think we have more options, and we have players who can attack in many different ways. I’m looking at the returning forwards like Walter and Matteo. Matteo has that first professional year out of the way and comes into the preseason with an opportunity to grow. Poncé will have a full preseason.

“We added players like Jared, Kian (Williams, from Keflavik in Iceland), Pacifique (Niyongabire, from Perth Glory in Australia), Jaime (Siaj, from Finn Harps in the League of Ireland) … I’m confident with those options. Scoring is collective. None of the goals scored by any player are those where the player grabs the ball at his own goal line and ends up scoring it alone. It’s about balance in the team and being able to attack in many different ways and putting players into scoring positions in many different ways. The important thing is they get chances to score and if you put any of the players that we’ve signed into scoring positions we will be a team with the ability to score goals.

“You look at the numbers — Dyer had nine goals. We need to replace those nine goals. You look at the 14 points given by Sean Rea (five goals, nine assists)… the guys that come in know they have a responsibility, just as the coaches know we have to put players into good positions to score goals.”

-Is Rayane Yesli ready for a heavier workload in the net?

Sirois was the CPL’s top keeper in 2021 and last year had five clean sheets in 19 appearances. But one of the biggest developments last season for Valour was the emergence of Yesli, who had four clean sheets in his nine CPL starts.

“Rayane has the pole position starting the season,” Dos Santos said. “He knows that and now it’s for him to grab that responsibility. I see a Rayane that is extremely mature, that is hungry to succeed and to make a mark in the league. That’s exciting. People don’t know Rayane the way we do here. He’s strong in his head. He’s an extremely smart kid who is very critical of himself. I think this could be a season where he has the opportunity to grow a lot because he’ll come in with maximum confidence knowing he’s been given that chance, but because he’s deserving to of being put in that position.”

The Valour camp lineup (not including triallists and U Sports Draft picks):

Goalkeepers: Rayane Yesli, (another will be announced on Monday).

Defenders: Andrew Jean-Baptiste, Andy Baquero, Jordan Haynes, Dante Campbell, Abdou Samake, Eskander Mzoughi,

Midfielders: Diego Gutiérrez, Matthew Catavolo, Raphael Ohin, Marcello Polisi, Kevin Rendon, Juan Pablo Sanchez,

Forwards: Matteo de Brienne, Walter Poncé, Pacifique Niyongabire, Jaime Siaj, Jared Ulloa, Kian Williams

FYI: Tuesday’s first practice session goes from 10-11:30 a.m. at WSF Soccer South on the University of Manitoba campus.