Could popular winger Miguel Ibarra be heading back to the Twin Cities, rejoining Minnesota United in time for the club's inaugural MLS season in 2017?
Nothing is guaranteed until a deal is done, of course, but securing Ibarra's MLS rights would be a big step in that direction.
According to a report late last week from FiftyFive.One, the Loons could trade newly-acquired goalkeeper Jeff Attinella -- taken from Real Salt Lake in last week's MLS Expansion Draft -- to the Portland Timbers, who currently hold Ibarra's rights on a discovery claim.
Ibarra is now with Liga MX side Club Leon, but has played sparingly in recent months.
Portland took Ibarra in the 2012 MLS Supplemental Draft, but he never signed with them and made his way to Minnesota and the NASL, where he was named to the league's Best XI in 2013 and 2014. In 2014, he won the league's Golden Ball (MVP) award and earned the first of a succession of call-ups to the US national team, before joining Leon via transfer.
