CHESTER, Pa. – The Philadelphia Union are about to get a little more Jamaican flair.
Confirming a report that first appeared in Jamaica earlier this week, Union interim manager Jim Curtin said that the Union will acquire Jamaican striker Brian Brown – possibly in time for Saturday’s game against the Colorado Rapids at PPL Park (7 pm ET; MLS Live).
“There’s still some paperwork that needs to finish up, but he’s going to be with us going forward,” Curtin said. “He’s a player that we’re excited about.”
The 21-year-old Brown – who scored 18 goals with the Jamaican club Harbour View last season to win the league’s Golden Boot – has been training with the Union all week and walked off the field with countryman Andre Blake following Thursday’s training session. He previously went on trial for Philly last month, scoring a lot of goals against the Union’s starting center backs and proving to the coaches that he could be a quality striker in MLS.
“The alarm bells went off pretty quickly,” Curtin said. “You could tell he was pretty special around the goal.”
Curtin compared Brown to the Rapids’ Deshorn Brown, calling him an “explosive” and “up-and-coming” player that “can stretch the field,” possibly alongside Conor Casey up top in a 4-4-2 formation.
The Union manager didn’t want to say on the record whether the deal was a loan, but he did credit Brown’s agent, Jamaican Damani Ralph, for helping to facilitate the acquisition.
Curtin, who played alongside Ralph with the Chicago Fire, added that his old teammate is someone he “respects a lot.”
“He has a way, especially with Jamaican players, of knowing which ones fit in the league – like a Deshorn-type,” Curtin said. “And now he sees a lot of the same qualities in Brian Brown. It’s an exciting thing.”
There's another non-roster player who’s been training with the Union this week, someone Philly fans know very well: former Union midfielder Michael Farfan.
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But unlike Brown, Farfan will probably not be getting a deal with the Union. Curtin said that Farfan – who played for the Union from 2011-2013 – is simply looking to stay in shape after his short stay at Cruz Azul in Mexico came to an abrupt end.
“It’s a favor,” Curtin said. “It’s just to keep him going and getting him sharp. He wants to be around a team and get going before he goes overseas on some trials.
“I’ll never say never,” the manager added. “He can come here and we can say, ‘You know what, we’re not letting him go anywhere’ and maybe we make a move. But that’s not the idea right now.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
