Vancouver Whitecaps feel the pedigree of trialist Ryan O'Leary could serve the team well this season.

The 23-year old former Kilmarnock defender is training with the MLS expansion franchise in the hope of a winning a contract and the Whitecaps are buoyed by the fact he is the nephew of a famous Scot.

Former Arsenal star David O'Leary is Ryan's uncle and Whitecaps' director of soccer operations Tom Soehn says that fact, doubled with his upbringing made it easy for the club to overlook him.

"He's got a pedigree, he's come through the youth teams and the national teams where he's been," Soehn told The Province. "It was a good opportunity for us to look at him."

And O'Leary himself, whose mother Kerry is from Vancouver, said it would be nice to end up at the Whitecaps and get back to doing something he is keen on after spending the past few months working for his father's cleaning company.

"It would be easy for me to come here if [the Whitecaps] want me. I've got a Canadian passport, my grandparents are out in Surrey (suburb of Vancouver). I've got my home comforts here," he said.

"I'm just glad to be back doing something I'm half-decent at, and a bit happier about."