Merry Christmas Timbers Fans! Jose Adolfo Valencia Signed as Second DP [Official]
by Geoff Gibson on Dec 15, 2011 11:14 AM PST
Email
PrintIt looks like we Timbers fans are going to get an early Christmas present from the Timbers organization as they've announced, for really reals, that Jose Adolfo Valencia, the Colombian U-20 national team standout has been officially signed as the Timbers second Designated Player.
We've essentially covered El Trencito over the last few weeks so there's not much to say that you shouldn't already know. That said, this is still very exciting news because it not only means he has been signed but we know for fact he's on his way over due to his ITC papers coming in, something Merritt Paulson said they'd need before making any announcement. Probably to curtail another Kerrea Gilbert situation.
I've gone ahead and attached the press release after the break which will include all relevant information. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a roster to update.
Press release:
PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Timbers announced today the signing of 19-year-old Colombian forward Jose Adolfo Valencia as a young Designated Player. Per club and league policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. Timbers general manager Gavin Wilkinson made the announcement.
Valencia, who becomes Portland’s second Designated Player, shined for Colombia’s U-20 National Team in 2011, helping the team to the 2011 Toulon Tournament championship and a quarterfinal finish in the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Regarded as one of Colombia’s top young players, Valencia made his professional debut at the age of 16 and played four seasons (2008-11) for Colombian first-division club Independiente Santa Fe.
Valencia will be added to the Timbers’ roster pending the successful completion of a physical.
"We are excited about acquiring our first young Designated Player," said Wilkinson. "Jose is a very gifted player who possesses great athleticism and maturity on the field for a player of his age. He is an imposing player on the field, has a tremendous upside and we look forward to watching his continued development in MLS."
In 2011, Valencia helped Santa Fe to its fourth playoff appearance in the last four seasons, as Santa Fe reached the semifinals of the Liga Postobón’s Clausura campaign. Between multiple national team call-ups, Valencia played in 16 league matches over the course of the season and scored a goal. He played in both matches of Santa Fe’s quarterfinal playoff series against Itagüí and saw action in the second leg of the semifinal series against Once Caldas.
The Bogotá, Colombia, native was a key figure for his country in the recent U-20 World Cup, starting four of his five appearances in the tournament. Valencia scored the game-winning goal against Mali in the group stage, securing Colombia’s place in the knockout rounds. At the 2011 Toulon Tournament in France, Valencia played in four games and scored the decisive goal in a semifinal victory over Mexico’s U-20 side as the Colombia U-20 National Team went on to secure the tournament title.
"Jose is a young player we've been monitoring for the last 12 months. It is nice to finally say he's a Timbers player," said John Spencer, head coach of the Timbers. "He is powerful and quick and should be a nice complement to the attacking players we have with the club already. It is important to give him time to settle into a new culture and country and not put too much pressure on him too soon; he has tremendous potential."
As a teenager, Valencia has been a contributor for Santa Fe, his hometown club, over the past four seasons. He played in 18 games in his second professional season in 2009, as Santa Fe finished the Clausura campaign in second place and claimed the 2009 Copa Colombia, a tournament contested by 36 of Colombia’s top professional clubs.
Valencia made 38 total league appearances during his time with Santa Fe, aiding in postseason appearances by the club each season from 2008-11. He factored in strong finishes by Santa Fe in each of its last three Clausura campaigns, helping the club qualify for the Copa Sudamericana tournament – one of the elite South American club tournaments – in 2010 and 2011.
He becomes the Timbers’ second Designated Player, joining midfielder and fellow countryman Diego Chara, who signed as the club’s first Designated Player in its MLS history on April 13, 2011.
Nicknamed "El Trencito" (the Little Train), Valencia is the son of popular former Colombian international Adolfo Valencia, who played in the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cups. Adolfo Valencia, known as "El Tren" (the Train), had a 16-year professional career (1988-2004), which included stints with Santa Fe, Germany’s Bayern Munich, Spain’s Atlético Madrid and in MLS with the MetroStars from 2000-01.
Jose Adolfo Valencia
Full Name: Jose Adolfo Valencia Arrechea
Pronunciation: HO-say a-DOL-fo va-LEN-see-ah
Position: Forward
Height: 6-1
Weight: 180
Born: Dec. 18, 1991 in Bogotá, Colombia
Hometown: Bogotá, Colombia
Last Club: Independiente Santa Fe (Colombia)
College: n/a
Citizenship: Colombia
42 comments
|
1 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Not a loan, then?
There were some theories out there that Santa Fe was going to be retaining Valencia’s rights (which really wouldn’t make sense for the Timbers at all). Even though the terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, this must be a regular transfer, right?
When I write, I write for the Timbers. Contributing Editor of Stumptown Footy
by Andrew Wheeler on Dec 15, 2011 11:45 AM PST reply actions
I'm assuming as much.
Thought they might have an option to buy him back or some such thing if the Timbers don’t want to keep him.
I highly doubt this is a loan though.
RCTID - Stumptown Footy
Moderator of /r/MLS
by Geoff Gibson on Dec 15, 2011 12:15 PM PST up reply actions
Gavin gave an interview
when we were just setting the team up, in which he stated they’d shy away from loan deals for the most part. Given how long we waited in announcing, I as sure as I can be this is a signing, not a loan.
Will be VERY interested to see him in camp. Great future, but I’m not sure he’s going to see a ton of time next year. Temper your expectations!
This is the internet, I refuse to temper my expectations and demand that Velancia be the singlehanded savior of the franchise
or else the move was a total failure.
Merritt confirmed on ExtraTime Radio...not a loan
He said something like “This is the longest term contract we have signed for any of our bigger name players”. Merritt also mentioned that Jose has first division European aspirations for his future and that he wanted to make sure and sign Jose to a long term contract right before the comment above. Therefore it looks as though the Timbers did sign him to hopefully get a couple productive years out of him and then maybe we sell him on at possibly a decent profit. That would be great for the club and MLS in my opinion. I do not mind it if the Timbers and MLS make a bit of a name for ourselves beating euro clubs to young talent, develop it and then sell it for a profit. Of course, I would rather see this guy be a dtud for many years for the Timbers but just sayin….
Another Nugget from that ETR Interview
Merritt let slip that the Chara buyout was $2 million. That is a huge investment from our owner….I am a huge fan of Merritt Paulson.
2 million?
Paulson is awesome.
Oklahoma State will beat LSU in the National Title game by more than 7 points.
by No Pity on Dec 15, 2011 10:27 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
Awesome!
I know the announcement is no surprise to any Timbers fan, but I couldn’t help replaying the Gilbert situation in the back of my mind. Glad to finally have it official. I feel fairly confident in Wilkinson’s recruiting abilities. Add that to the DP money allocated to a 19 year old, and I am pretty excited. Here’s to hoping for a golden boot in a few years!
Yay! The book value of the Timbers franchise tripled today. Woohoo!
This is like the day Sunderland signed Craig Gordon. The book value of the whole club skyrockets because of one signing.
If Little Train torches a big international competition, he may not wear our jersey very long. All these new Arab owners of Champions League clubs, may start dropping oil money bombs on Portland.
Rumors start up in the London tabloids, then the whole city start getting bombed with all the world’s currencies, and jewels. Look out for dropping gold coins, though. They will level a mark.
This Time "Man of of Year", new MLS "Moment of the Year" nominee had busy week
They can’t all be award winners.
; – )
Pssssshhht
I won that Time thing in 2006. It’s not as prestigious as it sounds. And I never did get the prime parking spot or the free Bennigan’s for a year or whatever prize was supposed to come with that. Cheap jerks.
Glad to hear its official.
Looking forward to seeing him play. He is big! Should translate to mls quicker with his fellow columbian teammates.
Question: If he does develop into a european prospect and is sold to a richer league would the timbers get any of that money? Im under the impression that the league owns all the contracts and decides when to hold them or move them as well as pay for them. So maybe theres some kind of finders fee? If he has any great seasons in mls for us that would be payment enough for me. Brek Shea might get sold in this manner and Tim Ream too.
I believe this clause explains that
PLAYER TRANSFERRED OUTSIDE MLS: If a team receives allocation money as a result of a player’s transfer, the team does not retain a right of first refusal.
So the Timbers can get allocation money as part of the transfer of Chara or El Trencito but if they do then if they return to the MLS they would not get the rights to sign them again first.
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
I still do not understand
Take Chara as an example. It seems Merritt paid a $2 million transfer fee for him and his salary is around $160K or so I think. He is a DP. Questions:
1. Merritt paid that transfer fee right, not MLS?
2. If #1 is yes and if the Timbers shipped him to Europe for some kind of transfer fee it would seem logical that Merritt would get his $2 million back right?
Now Brek Shea as an example:
He is not a DP and he is under a long term contract at Dallas. Who makes the decision to ship him to europe for a fee or not? Dallas? MLS? A combo of both?
Answers
1) The Portland Timbers Paid the Transfer fee (So yes Merritt Paid it)
2) MLS technically as a single entity structure would have the final say as to who transfers where and what not.. However not that MLS has gotten larger MLS HQ leaves a lot of that up to the team and just OK’s the transfer. As to your question about who gets the fee an MLS team who has had a player sold to another team outside of MLS gets 2/3rds of the transfer fee. To Quote MLS:
All other players:
• Club receives 2/3 of the transfer fee revenue and the League receives 1/3
The maximum amount of a given transfer fee’s revenue that may be used by a club as allocation money has increased from $500,000 to $650,000
So not only does the team get 2/3rds of the transfer fee but they can then use that money as allocation money (trade asset and to pay down incoming transfer fees etc.)
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
*Now instead of not....
Edit button :(
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
OK. Lets get some more signings now.
Keep em coming.
Another question.
How many DP slots do we have? is it three?
Three
However this one is a Young DP so his salary only counts as $175k for cap purposes even though he is making more than that. Which means we have enough cap to go after some good players and maybe another DP.
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
in the interview (mentioned above)
Paulson sounded like he was looking at getting another DP next year, or at least that was how I understood it.
I JUST WANT MY BASKETBALL BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by Sean in Vancouver on Dec 15, 2011 11:30 PM PST up reply actions
I wonder what reasonable expectations for Trencito are?
I know that as fans we were really unfair to Cooper with our expectations of him not falling over every expletiving time he got near another player.
Joking. Joking. …mostly.
But seriously, I’m interested in some analysis on what his progression might look like.
volatilelyle.com
by almost awesome on Dec 15, 2011 11:47 PM PST reply actions
Almost impossible without seeing him playing against MLS talent
And understanding how well he’s fitting in (he’s the son of a king, which has its pluses and minuses in Colombia). My early view, if he can start 5ish first team games and open his account with at least 1 goal, start all the Open Cup games, and look really dangerous in all the reserve games (doesn’t have to single-handily lead us to victory, but be a terror back there), I’d count that as a success.
He’s just turning 20, and is a spot/bench player for Sante Fe (though they do have a couple of very good strikers), so the more time he can get his bearings, learn to swim in the MLS current, the better. That said, part of me does believe he could have a much more beastly season, he’s the right kind of striker (see CJ Sapong) to come in and make a big impact. How the midfield shakes out could also have a very large impact on how he looks.
Maybe similar to Kalif Alhassan
I think when we see him play in 2012 we’ll something similar to what we’ve seen in Kalif — flashes of brilliance, but plenty of frustration in some important areas of his game. Not that he’ll be similar at all to Alhassan — as zaggy says nobody knows just how his skill will translate to MLS — but he’ll probably excite us and frustrate us in a way we’re all too familiar with.
When I write, I write for the Timbers. Contributing Editor of Stumptown Footy
by Andrew Wheeler on Dec 16, 2011 9:46 AM PST up reply actions
Not to get too Off topic,
But if Kalif can have a ‘breakout’ season in 2012, I think the Offense will vastly improve.
+1000
I totally agree, I think if Nagbe or Kalif show an improvement the Offense will improve. If Kalif can get 3-4 goals and get 7-9 assists and Nagbe be around the same the Timbers will be a playoff team for sure.
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
How do we expect him used?
I can’t really extrapolate expectations until I guess how Spencer will use him. What do people expect there?
I’d imagine that he won’t start much at all in the beginning of the season, but will be used as the main forward off the bench. Big, fast, physical forward to punish tired defenders with 25 minutes left? His touch looks better than Dike’s already and he has a similar build, so I figure he eats all Dike’s minutes, for the most part.
So, 3-5 goals and an occasional start when someone is injured? Too optimistic?
I agree that much of this is contingent upon how our midfield shakes down. Are we going to get good crosses in? (Related aside, Zizzo, for all his faults, was quite good at drawing free kicks in dangerous locations. Who replaces that? Nagbe and Alhassan?)
Pretty right on
Probably #3 striker, depending on how Eddie is doing coming back from the concussions. Look for him alot in reserve games ala Castillo was used for Dallas last year.
Or
I could see him being used as the outside forward in a 4-3-3 if, and I mean this as a big IF, Spencer actually uses something other than a 4-4-2 and goes with a 4-3-3.
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
Well...
1) Your right on about it being a BIG if if Spencer goes away from a 442 (I can’t see him doing it, he’s an English style coach who played 442 almost his whole career and then grew up as an assistant to Kinnear, who has played a 442 as long as I can remember)
2) In a 433, I’d argue that Valencia (if good enough to start in it), is far more suited to play in the middle of the forward line, ala Sapong last year for KC, then out wide. One of the things he’s good at (besides being a relatively large guy) is his ability to hold the ball up. KC can’t (he drifts far too much), Perlaza’s game is speed, EJ (when healthy) can hold up the ball, but is no where near the size/presence I’m hoping to see from Valencia and while Dike has the size/presence for it, doesn’t have the ball skills to be great at holding the ball up. Nagbe can also hold the ball very well, but again, is not the dominant size, and based on our midfield depth currently is probably going to be playing there instead of up top unless we gain some more depth there.
Size
Size can be misleading, just look at KC and then at one of the best Forwards the USMNT ever had in Mcbride, and while I agree with you that Trencito has more skill than most of our current forwards he seems to be someone who wants to attack players not hold the ball up.
Either way the Timbers current roster is better suited to a 4-3-3 not a 4-4-2. However the best option would probably be what Barca is employing with a “false” 9 or to put it into numbers a 3-1-4-2(check out a great article here). Which I think would best utilize the Timbers excess of talented midfielders. It would be a potent midfield in Chara, Nagbe, Zizzo and Alhassan, with any combo of forwards you want.
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
While I agree with you
We aren’t very well suited (and I’d argue, neither is MLS to some degree) for a traditional 442 with a flat midfield, that’s the coach we have. Taking a page from the NBA, you wouldn’t see a coach like Mike D’Antoni (prior coach of Phoenix, current coach of the Knicks) play an uber-defensive approach. He’s a run and gunner kind of guy. Spencer likes that 442, so I’d be surprised if we saw much else.
I’d also argue our back 4 (or 3 and 1) aren’t good enough to play that style. We’d be ok/good going forward, but whoever was in the back would probably get beat pretty bad, even with Chara dropping back as another potential deep defender in that kind of midfield. Maybe in a few years though.
I could definitely see the Timbers utilizing something like a 4-1-3-2
Jewsbury as CDM, Chara as a CM/CAM, with Alhassan and Nagbe on the wings and Trencito and Cooper up top, Perlaza and Dike as 1st and 2nd subs.
We’re building a pretty damn deep team, it seems. I do like the idea of a 4-3-3 but we’re really lacking in quality central mids or legit wings who can attack.
outside?
I’d put him as the 9. He seems more suited for it than KFC, who seems more comfortable drifting outside. Maybe let Kenny drift out and yet be dangerous in the box on set pieces?
Just looking at some of the goals he scored
For Colombia he had a lot of runs coming from the outside but while at Santa Fe he scored a lot of goals from in front of the goal… Either way he could probably play both.
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
He speaks!
http://www.portlandtimbers.com/news/2011/12/new-man-valencia-wants-make-his-mark-portland
Jag kom, jag såg, erövrade jag.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Stumptown Footy
Related FanShots on Stumptown Footy
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
