With advanced negotiations between the Portland Timbers and Club Atletico Lanus, the transfer of El Maestro Diego Valeri to his old club is about to happen in the next hours according to sources from MLSSoccer.com.
As Valeri turns 36 in May, after his career began on this club situated on the District of Lanus that lies south of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is the capital of the province of Lanus Partido. Overall, both Portland and Valeri have been working on a potential exit this winter.
As many see that both parties have reached a positive resolution as well sharing the mutual respect they share. A move that the Timbers will receive a transfer fee of around $175,000 for Valeri in addition to the Timbers being relieved of his salary cap hit in 2022.
In his time with the Portland Timbers, Diego Valeri scored 86 goals with 91 assists across 262 regular-season games (230 starts) after joining the Rose City side back in 2013. In the postseason the man was the difference maker with six goals and eight assists across 22 games (18 starts).
He became central when the Portland Timbers won their league title back in 2015 by scoring a big goal and a couple of Western Conference titles (2018, 2021). Back in 2017, he became the league’s Most Valuable Player winning the prestigious Landon Donovan Award and earning MLS Best honors three times.
Diego Valeri a prodigy from Deportivo Lanus academy, and before his arrival in Portland, the man had a brief stint in Europe’s Portugal League with Porto and in La Liga with Almeria. On his return to his old club, the man had 158 appearances with 25 goals scored for the Garnets prior to his move to the Portland Timbers.
Valeri will join two more Argentinians moving back to their clubs in Argentina with defender Leandro Gonzalez Pirez (Inter Miami) and midfielder Tomas Pochettino (Austin FC) these two joinings River Plate on loan.
Source: MLSSoccer.com
