Of all the moves made by the Portland Timbers on a busy Monday morning, the acquisition of Ghanaian national team goalkeeper Adam Larsen Kwarasey appeared to spark the most question.
It left the Timbers with four ‘keepers on their roster, including 2013 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Donovan Ricketts. But in a conference call with media Tuesday, Timbers head coach Caleb Porter and general manager Gavin Wilkinson indicated that their offseason movement is far from over.
“As far as having four goalkeepers on the roster, I would say hold that question for the next 24, 48 hours and let’s see how things go in the expansion draft,” Wilkinson said. “I think we’re lucky to have the quality and depth in goalkeepers that we have, and we may have to deal with an issue if a goalkeeper gets taken in the expansion.”
Ricketts, 37, was left unprotected by the Timbers for Wednesday’s Expansion Draft, and the Jamaican international’s heady resume will certainly make him an attractive target. He's appeared in 73 games since his acquisition in August 2012 by the Timbers, the third MLS club of his career.
Porter said the moves made Monday – which also included trading for Real Salt Lake center backNat Borchers and signing Brazilian defender Jeanderson Salvador Pereira and Colombian forward Dairon Asprilla – were simply about improving at those four positions.
“We basically identified four key positions, and we went out and signed basically four players, a goalkeeper, a central defender, a left back and a right winger/forward,” Porter said. “… We felt in particular, the defensive side of the our team, even though we still finished better in that regard, we still felt in evaluating the season that that was really the main the area of concern.”
Trading for the 33-year-old Borchers, while declining the contract option on Pa Modou Kah, who finished the season partnering with Designated Player Liam Ridgewell in central defense, was Portland’s other signature move of the day. Borchers, a 10-year MLS veteran, has been the centerpiece to RSL’s defense for nearly all of his seven years there.
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Portland gave up 52 goals last season, the third-highest total in the Western Conference, despite the summer signing of Premier League veteran Ridgewell.
Porter said in evaluation meetings with Wilkinson and owner Merritt Paulson that landing an experienced MLS center back to pair with Ridgwell was a top priority.
“We were, all three of us, really confident that the best route would be adding an MLS proven central defender,” Porter said. “… We feel like getting a guy like Nat Borchers, who’s really been in the MLS trenches for a lot of years and knows how to win and has been in a club that has consistently been at the top and made the playoffs and knows the league and the teams inside and out, we felt he would be a tremendous addition.”
Dan Itel covers the Timbers for MLSsoccer.com.
