Valour FC added two more prospects Thursday in the Canadian Premier League U-Sports Draft and have their fingers crossed they have discovered gold again after landing centre back Frankie Facchineri in last year’s homegrown talent grab.

Valour had the first and ninth overall selections in the proceedings after finishing at the bottom of the tables in 2024 and selected Toronto Metropolitan University forward Jevontae Layne first overall, followed by left back Ibrahim Chami of McGill University and the Lebanese U-23 national team with their second pick.

A year ago, they selected forward Owen Shepherd first overall — he was released after training camp, resurfaced with the HFX Wanderers and was back in the draft this year — and then found a solid starter in Facchineri with their second selection.

A quick look at this year’s two selections:

Jevontae Layne: A 23-year-old product of Brampton, Ont., Layne starred with Simcoe in League1 Ontario and at TMU. He was named L1O Premier’s Forward of the year and a First Team All-Star after scoring 10 goals, adding 10 more playing in the OUA with TMU.

“He’s a player that already has a certain maturity,” Valour GM and head coach Phillip Dos Santos told valourfootball.club after the draft. “He’s a bit older when you’re looking at draft picks. For us, it was about picking the best player available at a position where we feel we could use a little bit of depth. It never hurts to have more at that spot.

“He likes to attack a back line and run behind a back line. I always feel that in your roster you can never have too many attacking threats. It’s always important to have options there. He’s someone who coming into our preseason with his energy and the way he plays the game is going to increase the tempo and help us in training. Then, we’ll see where this can take him. He has the capacity and the quality to stick around for a while. But again, it’s about seeing how his success in League1 and in university translates in the professional game.”

Ibrahim Chami: Another player who stood out at various levels, Chami — who turns 21 next week — played for FC Laval in Ligue1 Québec, suited up for Lebanon at the 2024 ACF U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers and was named to the 2024 U SPORTS All-Rookie Team for his work at McGill. He started 15 out of 16 games for McGill this year and earned a spot on the All-Star Team at the U SPORTS national championship.

“We look at Themi (Antonoglou) and the minutes he gave us last year and it’s important for us to bring competition to the position and Ibrahim has an interesting pedigree,” Dos Santos said. “He’s a young player who already has started games for Laval in Ligue1 Québec who has also played for his national team in Lebanon at U-23. We had good references watching those games and knew it was important to add depth in our back line.

“Sometimes you are surprised with these profiles. He’s someone who shows composure on the ball and he’s aggressive in the way he defends. So, we’re looking forward to seeing how he’s going to step in and maybe give a little bit of a push to a player like Themi and then who knows where this could lead him.”

Both players are expected to join the club for winter training in February where they’ll both be evaluated on the potential to make the leap from the League1/U Sports levels to the CPL.

“It’s a lot about managing expectations with these draft picks,” said Dos Santos. “Frankie, for example, was more of a sure value for us because of the environment he had been in and the fact I had worked with him (in the Vancouver Whitecaps system). I knew what I was getting there; it was about making sure he was in a good place after a setback in his career and he came in with the right mentality.

“We have to look at history here. When I say ‘managing expectations’ it’s because the CPL draft is a bit different than drafts we see in other sports where the No. 1 comes in and is set to play right away in the major league and be an important player for his organization. Historically, not many players have been able to do that in the CPL. It’s a big jump and these are new pros; players who are going to come in and have to settle in the environment and prove they can do what they’ve done at the university and amateur level and then translate that to the pro game.

“I look back at players like Frankie this year and (Guillaume) Pianelli (selected 5th overall by the club in 2023) last year… apart from them and Eric Lajeunesse in Pacific — not many teams have picked players who have stepped in and played right away. There’s a process to it and we have to mindful of that and make sure we can help the players grow in our environment.

“I also understand it’s their day and they do get to experience the buzz and enjoy what a day like this can bring to them. I don’t want to downplay it because it’s an important day for them. It is special for them and a special opportunity that they’re getting. But, again, we need to be realistic.”