Ugh. I typed that headline five seconds ago and now I hate myself. NO. The answer is no. Probably no. Ok, the answer might be no, and I would almost certainly say definitely no if we hadn’t been burned before by the Whitecaps. There. You will find no buried ledes here.

As one would expect concerning the MLS Golden Boot winner, rumours have been swirling recently regarding the impending transfer of Camilo Sanvezzo to various locales. Look, up in the sky, it’s a transfer offer from Rosenborg, it’s a transfer offer from Tigres… NO! IT’S A TRANSFER OFFER FROM QUERÉTARO!

My first instinct with single-source transfer rumours is to chastise the people who inevitably regurgitate them as if they were not only legitimate rumours but faits accomplis. This one, however, seems to have a bit more to it than your average rumour-monger’s tweet. The initial report surfaced on Wednesday courtesy of ESPN Desportes. It was quickly picked up by the usual aggregators whose “sources” mysteriously got ahold of the same information MERE MINUTES after a major outlet had said the deal was practically done. Today, The Province managed to get some corroboration in the form of Querétaro’s local newspaper’s sports editor. According to Marcos Arellano of El Diario de Querétaro, the club’s head coach has already announced the signing to local media and insisted that Camilo will be arriving on the weekend to put pen to paper on a contract with the Liga MX side.

The Whitecaps have been consistent in their messaging. Yesterday evening, as twitter furor was kicking off, the Caps relayed to both Pete Schaad and Marc Weber that there was absolutely no truth to the rumours. This morning, Bob Lenarduzzi said exactly the same thing, insisting that Camilo would be at training camp later this month.

Now, here’s a thing about me. When someone says a thing is so, I like to believe them. Should the thing later prove not to be so, I do not approve. I would very much like to believe that the Whitecaps are being straight when they say they’re not selling Camilo. The problem is, they have history here which does not flatter them. In January 2013, at the first training session of the year, Martin Rennie was asked directly about the absence of Barry Robson, whose departure was being similarly rumoured at the time. His response:

You always find at the start of the season there’s one or two guys who don’t get here on time. I’m pretty sure we’ll get them all here pretty soon.

Rennie also said “But [all the absent players] should be back in the next couple of days.” Later that day, the Caps announced that they and Robson had mutually agreed to terminate his contract. One can excuse Whitecaps supporters for their trepidation after that incident.

So, until we get something definitive, perhaps from Camilo himself or a change of message from one of the clubs, there’s not much to do. If I had to bet, I would say Camilo is not going to Querétaro. Rennie’s comments about Robson last year make me uneasy, but he was using terms like “pretty sure” and “should”, giving him an out. The Caps have been more categorical in their denial of the transfer rumour this year.