Oops.
That's the sound in the Vancouver Whitecaps front office now as recent high-profile signing Omar Salgado trains this week with the Portland Timbers.
Just last week, the Caps announced the 16-year-old U.S. U-21 international striker had joined the team on a three-month loan, but a failure by Major League Soccer to secure his international transfer papers has killed that arrangement.
"There's obviously paperwork that couldn't be sorted out," Whitecaps director of soccer operations Tom Soehn said in an interview.
Timbers general manager Gavin Wilkinson confirmed Wednesday Salgado has left Vancouver and is training with his squad.
"Everyone is interested in Salgado," he said. "It's a real positive to work with a player that may be a part of your future."
Salgado recently signed with MLS as a Generation Adidas player and will be available for selection in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft in January. Expansion MLS sides Vancouver and Portland will have the first and second picks in that draft.
Soehn appeared resigned to losing Salgado's services for now but was grateful for the five days the team had to assess him in Vancouver last week.
"It gave us a real inside look as to what he's about and there's not too many times you get an advantage like that," he said. "We were real pleased with what we were able to do while he was here."
The loss of Salgado comes after the Whitecaps announced they have added two more players to their USSF D-2 roster-- 22-year-old U.S. striker Cody Arnoux and 26-year-old Liberian-American defender Willis Forko.
That makes 10 new player signings in the past three weeks as the Caps stockpile talent in preparation for their move to MLS. The team feels it can sign any of its current USSF D-2 players to MLS contracts but Arnoux's situation could create a unique precedent.
The former Wake Forest University star spent the past year in England with Premiership side Everton but never saw time with the senior squad and couldn't catch on with another U.K. team this season.
So his future now lies in top-flight North American soccer and MLS officials feel he has to go through a league lottery or draft before he can sign with any club. But the Whitecaps think current rules allow them to just sign Arnoux to an MLS contract if they want because he's now on their USSF D-2 roster.
"We're working with the league on this and hoping the outcome will be positive for everybody involved," Soehn said.
Obviously the league is concerned a future expansion club like Montreal could sign lots of new young talent to USSF D-2 contracts and bypass MLS drafts and lotteries.
While the Whitecaps' new-player-signing count hit double digits, their expansion cousins in Portland signed just one new player during the transfer window -- Dutch forward Ibad Muhamadu.
Wilkinson said the Whitecaps and Timbers have adopted different strategies to prepare for MLS.
"They have a direction and a plan that should be positive for them and I applaud them for that," Wilkinson said. "But it's just not for us."

He said it was important for Portland to find a new MLS head coach before actively recruiting new players. The Timbers announced last week that former Houston Dynamo assistant coach John Spencer will coach Portland next year.
"We're also not sure it's a fair reflection to bring a player in now and put them on trial for MLS," Wilkinson said. "Does it make sense to test them in a Division-2 environment?"
Arnoux is with the Whitecaps in Tampa Bay and could see action tonight when Vancouver plays the Rowdies.
The 5-10, 170-pound striker said he enjoyed the chance to train with Everton players like Louis Saha and Phil Neville last season but understands his future lies in North America now.
"I'd love to stay here next season but we'll take things one day at a time," he said in an interview.
Forko, who spent two seasons with Real Salt Lake in 2006 and 2007, had a brief stint with the Whitecaps in 2008.
"I know they're looking at a lot of players for next year," he said in an interview. "I've been here before and liked it so I decided to give it a go."