by Matt Hoffman
Preseason camp is mere days away as the Portland Timbers, led by CONCACAF Male Coach of the Year nominee Caleb Porter look to put the finishing touches on their off-season moves.
The biggest changes continue to the departed. We’ve covered Villafana’s move to Santos already and we’ll hit fellow left winger Rodney Wallace on another day. Let’s talk about some new additions.
Wallace was out of contract and could not work out a new contract with the team. The Timbers will apparently retain Wallace’s rights. Meaning: Wallace is free to pursue a career outside of MLS however were Wallace to remain in the league, the Timbers would receive compensation.
Similar to how the Timbers acquired Jack McInerney who was out of contract with in Columbus. McInerney’s six years were less than the free agency requirement (unlike say Ned Grabavoy, but more on him later) so Columbus still had McInerney’s rights and Portland needed to give the Crew ubiquitious allocation cash to get his rights.
Of course, that’s unofficial so that hasn’t actually happened. Yet.
Replacing Villafana
Onto official news, today Portland officially announced that Zarek Valentin and the aforementioned Grabavoy had, officially, signed with the club. Montreal retained Valentin’s rights so in exchange for the fullback, the Timbers dished an international roster slot for the 2016 season.
Valentin played two years under Porter at Akron going pro after his sophomore year as a Generation adidas player. Valentin was drafted fourth overall in 2011 by Chivas but he played enough minutes in his 25 games to “graduate” from Generation adidas much to the befuddlement on his then-coach Robin Fraser.
“It made no sense [to graduate Valentin from Generation adidas],” Fraser told ESPN at the time.
“Here’s a player who comes out early [following his sophomore season at the University of Akron]and is the No. 4 pick and as a GA player that has time to develop.”
There are a few benefits for teams who have a player on a Generation adidas contract first and foremost being that, whilst under the Generation adidas umbrella, a players salary does not count against the cap.
When Valentin’s salary and cap space ballooned Chivas USA, a club not known for being heavy spending, left Valentin unprotected and the newly promoted Montreal Impact selected Valentin with the second pick in the expansion draft.
Valentin did well enough to earn himself a loan and an eventual transfer to Norway. After suffering an achilles tear in 2014, Valentin bounced back in 2015 starting 24 games at right back but occasionally shifting to centerback in a pinch.
Portland is already set on the right with Alvas Powell. Barring a position change, injury, or a transfer of Powell, it’s hard to see Valentin starting unless he is willing to play on the left where it’s likely to battle with Chris Klute who also is new from the Timbers but was signed a month ago.
Klute was a part of the new-defunct Atlanta Silverbacks of the NASL before catching on with the Colorado Rapids in 2012. He remained there until being brought over as part of a deal at last year’s MLS draft but fell out of favor and spent much of last year as an unused sub.
Still Klute is 25 and in the words of Gavin Wilkinson, has “big upside” which was similar to remarks made by Crew SC coach Gregg Berhalter that Klute, “has a tremendous capacity.”
Replacing Wallace
Going forward, the Timbers do have depth at the left wing position Wallace once occupied with the emergence of Dairon Asprilla and designated player Lucas Melano. However sources within the organization told The Oregonian’s Jamie Goldberg that the Timbers are looking to find a player to replace Wallace.
Grabavoy spent much of last year playing all four midfield roles but in likelihood his presence will be on the team for depth as Caleb Porter himself said: “He is a smart and technical player that provides quality proven depth in several attacking roles.” (My emphasis)
Replacing Urruti
The most intriguing signing is the one that’s still yet to be confirmed Jack McInerney. McInerney was one of the league’s best goal scorers. Philadelphia Union turned out to be wise selling high on him. When Montreal flipped him to Columbus last year for only a second round draft pick. Quite a turnaround from a player who Finished tied for seventh in MLS with 12 goals in 2013. McInerney made five appearances for Columbus last year.
McInerney was the rare soccer player who was good enough to forego college yet didn’t catch on internationally. Instead he was a Generation adidas player selected seventh overall by the Union in 2010.
His career started with a jolt. Only Stern John (44 goals) had scored more goals in league play by the age of 23 (McInerney had 36). But McInerney developed a reputation as a bad locker room guy which, fair or not, may account for why a guy with his resume is on his fourth team in five years.
Jack McInerney ranks second in MLS history in goals scored by the age 23 (36).
What’s more, it’s debatable if the Timbers have the best set-up for McInerney. McInerney is a skilled poacher but is not a creator. McInerney isn’t going to dribble or pass or move. The Timbers had problems scoring last year but it wasn’t for lack of shots, it was for lack of quality shots.
It’s unclear how McInerney will improve that.
Obviously at 23, there is still time to develop as a player. However it’s hard to debate that McInerney seems to do best in a two-striker set up which is something Porter ran out only when he was most desperate last year.
But Portland might also be a great fit for McInerney for starting with not that much is expected of him. Sure, his cap hit will hurt but it will be (likely) far less than the cap hit the Timbers expected they would get from Urruti.
It’s expected that we’ll see McInerney playing the Urruti-role, coming on against tired legs and it’s not hard to imagine him having success with that.
Meanwhile, McInerney’s faults can be mitigated in that his lack of passing and dribbling and technical skills are offset by the Timbers abundance of talent in chance creation. The Timbers have some of the league’s best chance creators in Valeri and Nagbe (with Melano, Adi and even Powell showing potential).
To borrow an analogy from a different sport: McInerney could be the guy who collects RBIs that his teammates set up.
