Vancouver Whitecaps CEO Paul Barber is of firm belief that the MLS expansion franchise can be just as big in North America as Real Madrid are in Spain or Manchester United are in England.

The former Tottenham Hotspur director has grand plans for the Canadian club, who enter MLS in 2011, and has explained what he feels can make the Whitecaps so big.

"It's very easy to look at the top 25 clubs in the world and think of Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, and rightly so," Barber said.

"But when you actually look behind what that means, it doesn't necessarily mean the clubs with the biggest revenue. It means clubs with great facilities, clubs with a very strong community ethos, clubs playing in the highest level in their region.

"It means attracting the best players in the world, which we aim to do, and developing your own players, which we are doing. It's about great crowds and great sponsors.

"The Manchester Uniteds, Barcelonas, Real Madrids, we've got to aspire to set those sort of standards for North America and that's what we intend to do."