ESPN reported last week that the reigning Major League Soccer scoring leader was on the verge of signing a contract with Gallos Blancos de Querétaro despite the fact the Whitecaps claimed he’s still contractually bound to Vancouver’s MLS team.

Yet there he was Monday in Mexico taking part in physical testing for Querétaro club doctors. A photo posted at www.clubqueretaro.com shows a smiling Camilo giving the thumbs up in a doctor’s office and sporting Querétaro colours. The website said he was looking forward to joining his new teammates on the training field.

The photo was removed Monday night from the club’s website.

Back in Vancouver, a stone-faced Bob Lenarduzzi tried to make sense of it all during a hastily called press conference held in the Whitecaps’ Gastown business office.

“Unacceptable and inappropriate,” is what the Whitecaps’ vice-president called Camilo’s decision to defy the Vancouver club and put on Querétaro kit.

It’s difficult to figure what exactly Camilo, a speedy and creative striker who scored a league-high 22 goals for the Whitecaps in 2013, is trying to accomplish with his Mexican adventure.

Does he really think his MLS contract is invalid? Is he just angling for a raise from the Whitecaps? Or is this a ploy to force a transfer agreement between Vancouver and Querétaro?

The Brazilian, who made $247,500 last season, had his option picked up by the Whitecaps in November.

While the Whitecaps maintain their contract with Camilo is valid and bulletproof, the player and his agent seem to believe they have a legal out due to the fact the Brazilian striker never agreed to serve out an option year in Vancouver. But in Major League Soccer, it’s the club that exercises the contract option not the player.

Camilo and his agent — as well as los Gallos Blancos — appear to be challenging the league’s unilateral option policy, which according to Mike Jarosi, a sports lawyer in Columbus, Ohio, is unique to the New York-based league.

“In the FIFA world, they don’t look on unilateral options favourably. You can’t do them (in other leagues) but there is a giant exception that has been given to the MLS because MLS rules are the byproduct of U.S. labour law, specifically the collective bargaining process,” said Jarosi, who represents many MLS players.

“The MLS players union and the league have agreed that unilateral options are part of our process … and because of the collective bargaining process (Camilo’s contract) is pretty much Teflon.”

At Monday’s press conference, Lenarduzzi was asked if the stalemate with the MLS Golden Boot winner could have been avoided if the Whitecaps had offered to renegotiate Camilo’s contract instead of just picking up the option. Lenarduzzi said that the club and Sanvezzo’s representatives hadn’t been in talks about a new contract, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t going to happen.

“In the world that I live in, a contract is a contract. There is no suggestion that we would not have sat down with him and actually looked at a new contract,” Lenarduzzi said. “There are unique situations that we as a club believe that there is an opportunity to reward somebody even though they are under contract and this is one of those unique situations. Having said all of that, a contract is a contract.”

Lenarduzzi officially notified Querétaro F.C. in writing on Monday that Camilo was still under contract with the Whitecaps and was not free to sign a new deal with the Mexican club.

“The club has acknowledged receipt of the documentation and we are assuming they are going to back off, but they’ll need to take the next step,” he said.

Unlike most North American professional sports leagues, player contracts are actually owned by MLS and not the individual teams. And at the league offices in New York, there is no ambiguity as to who owns Camilo’s playing rights.

“He is under contract with us,” said MLS spokeswoman Susan Marschall.

Marschall says the reigning MLS leading scorer could not play in Mexico without violating FIFA rules.

“We have his (International Transfer Certificate). He can’t play without his ITC.”

According to FIFA’s transfer regulations, a player registered at one association (in Camilo’s case with the Canadian Soccer Association) may only register with a new association once the latter has received an International Transfer Certificate from the former association.

“I really believe the situation has been misrepresented to Camilo. I think he’s put a lot of faith in an agent and has gone with the agent’s advice and has got himself in a situation where it doesn’t look good on him,” said Lenarduzzi.

A former player himself, Lenarduzzi wouldn’t bite when asked if he envisioned a scenario that would see Sanvezzo return to the Whitecaps.

“What we’ll do now is let the dust settle and then over the next few days we’ll be in touch with Camilo,” said Lenarduzzi. “How it got to this is something that we’ll probably need to ask Camilo’s agent and Camilo because they were well aware of the fact that he is contracted to the Whitecaps.”

Jarosi, meanwhile, thinks Whitecaps fans will see Camilo playing at BC Place again next season.

“The whole thing is kind of sad. I think it will end with the agent thrown under the bus and Camilo will be back in Vancouver. They’ll all blame it on the agent.”

Written by Steve Milne