After a flurry of signings over the past few weeks, the last seven days were far quieter across the Canadian Premier League.
As Training Camps, presented by WestJet, continue across the country, most teams are putting the final pieces together for their opening-day squads.
Still, there were a few signings of note, and international call-ups worth diving deeper into in this week's edition of CPL Headlines.
Pacific FC strengthen midfield with Taras Gomulka signing
With the departures of club all-time appearance leader, Sean Young to Loudoun United, and Daniel De Pauli, the midfield was a clear position of need for the Tridents this off-season.
They made a big addition to their young group this week by signing 24-year-old former A-League champion Taras Gomulka. The Australian most recently played with Perth Glory, and has 91 games of A-League experience between Perth, Adelaide United, Melbourne City, and Brisbane Roar.
With Melbourne, he won a domestic double in 2021. As such, he brings strong pedigree to the Pacific midfield.
A versatile player, Gomulka was mainly deployed as a holding midfielder during his time in Australia. This fits quite well with a young Tridents midfield that leans more offensive with the likes of Aidan Daniels, Mattias Vales, Matteo Schiavoni and Sami Keshavarz.
Inter Toronto add Tomasz Skublak
One of the OPL's top strikers is returning to the Canadian Premier League as Inter Toronto signed 28-year-old Tomasz Skublak.
Skublak's initial foray in the Canadian Premier League came with the Halifax Wanderers back in 2019, when he scored four goals across 25 matches in all competitions.
Since, he has been one of the OPL's most prolific attackers, scoring 59 goals in 67 matches in the league between Scrosoppi FC and Guelph United. He was named the OPL's MVP for both 2023 and 2024 and won the league with Scrosoppi in the latter.
Skublak's signing gives Inter Toronto important depth and competition at the number nine position following the departure of Shaan Hundal. He joins club leading goalscorer Julian Altobelli in what could be a prolific attack once again in 2025.
Five CPLers called up by Canada for U-20 qualifiers
Five Canadian Premier League players will pull on Canada red this week as the Canadian U-20 national team look to qualify for the 2026 Concacaf U-20 Championship.
Forge duo Zayne Bruno and Emmanuel Marmolejo, Inter Toronto's Shola Jimoh, Cavalry's James McGlinchey and Atlético Ottawa's Sergei Kozlovskiy were named to the squad, which will compete down in Nicaragua between Feb. 26 and March 4.
Canada are in Group F for qualifiers with Nicaragua, Aruba, Martinique and the U.S. Virgin Islands. They need to top that group to qualify for this summer's Concacaf Championship.
That tournament will qualify four teams for the 2027 FIFA U-20 World Cup, and one for the 2028 Summer Olympics — with the United States already qualified for the latter as the host nation. Canada have not played in a U-20 World Cup since hosting in 2007.
David Norman Jr. announces retirement following Concacaf run
After playing against one of the top teams on the continent and nearly scoring a spectacular bicycle kick, Vancouver FC midfielder David Norman Jr. called it a career.
The 27-year-old from New Westminster, B.C., had a nine-year professional career, which began with the Vancouver Whitecaps before concluding at home in the CPL with VFC.
Along the way, he spent time in the CPL with Pacific and Cavalry, Inter Miami, in Scotland with Queen of the South, England with Northampton Town and won an FAI Cup Final with St. Patrick's Athletic in 2023.
He also represented Canada at the youth level with both the U-20s and U-23s.
