Two of the leakiest teams in MLS now have new goalkeepers.
The Portland Timbers swapped goalkeepers with the Montreal Impact on Tuesday, sending Troy Perkins to the expansion club in exchange for Donovan Ricketts in one of the most high-profile goalkeeper trades in league history.
The move for the Timbers is seemingly motivated by on-field considerations and cap management.
“Troy has been an important player for us, but we as a coaching staff saw this as an opportunity to improve the position, while optimizing our budget numbers in 2012 and 2013," Timbers GM and interim manager Gavin Wilkinson said in a club statement.
The 31-year-old Perkins is in his seventh MLS season and is approaching a career high for goals conceded with 35 in his 22 starts (5-11-5 record). He has three shutouts on the season with the last one coming on May 15 in Houston.
The 2006 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year while with D.C. United, Perkins joins his third MLS club in Montreal. He started out with United for four seasons before moving to Norway to play for Vålerenga IF after the 2007 season. He returned to D.C. and MLS for the 2010 season and was traded to Portland after the season.
"We are happy to be able to add Troy to our group and we think he will make an immediate impact in what we are trying to achieve," said Impact head coach Jesse Marsch in a club statement. "We feel this will help us make a strong push at the end of this year, as well as solidify ourselves for the future."
"We would like to thank Donovan for his services with the Impact but we did not feel he fit into our plans moving forward," Impact sporting director Nick De Santis said in the statement.
Ricketts, 35, was in his first season with the Impact. A Jamaican international who spent four seasons in English soccer before coming to MLS, he won the Goalkeeper of the Year award in 2010, while with the LA Galaxy, where he starred for three seasons before a trade sent him to the expansion Impact after the 2011 season.
In LA, Ricketts helped the Galaxy to two Supporters' Shields and last year's MLS Cup title. He also led the Galaxy to an MLS Cup final appearance in 2009 during which he famously came off due to injury.
