[Rumor] Timbers Interested in Celtic Striker Morten Rasmussen?

by Geoff Gibson on Aug 7, 2011 10:28 AM PDT

This one is a long shot, but according to Scottish news site the Daily Record the Portland Timbers are interested in acquiring 26 year old Danish striker, Morten Rasmussen, from Celtic, one of the top Scottish Premier League clubs. According to the report Celtic is looking to offload the striker and there is interest from both the Timbers and Russian Premier League side FC Tom Tomsk.

Rasmussen has had a fairly tame couple of seasons with Celtic only managing to score 2 goals in 10 games for the side before be loaned to both FSV Mainz 05 where he scored 2 goals in 5 games and AaB where he scored 6 goals in 14 games. However, prior to his 2010 transfer to Celtic he played for Danish first division club Brøndby IF where he scored an impressive 44 goals in 84 games. Not bad at all...

That said, I'm not entirely sure where Rasmussen would fit in with the current Timbers line up which is practically bursting at the seams with strikers. Would he take preference over Kenny Cooper, Jorge Perlaza or Eddie Johnson? What about Bright Dike, Brian Umony and Spencer Thomspon? Were Rasmussen to sign with the Timbers I'd think one of the current strikers would be on his way out.

Still, this absolutely isn't confirmed, it's just a rumor. Take this with a grain of salt until we get further confirmation. Even if the Timbers really were interested, Rasmussen might prefer Russia to the United States given it's relative closeness to Denmark.

[Daily Record]

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Another striker?

If anyone would go, my guess would be Umony. But we really dont need another striker! Cooper just started hussling again and showing that he wants to be starter, Perlaza has been pushin hard all season, Johnson just showed that he has the ability to wow us, so I see no point in making any changes or throwing money at another striker who, as of the last two matches, seems un-needed.

by Mikey Sullivan on Aug 7, 2011 10:34 AM PDT reply actions

I realize that our strikers haven't been given a ton of help

But not one of our forwards has proved himself unspareable/unbenchable. It looks to me like we have guys with a particular skill, and don’t have an all-around kind of a striker (though I’ll admit I have no idea if Rasmussen is that kind of a guy).

I’d prefer they address the back line, given the choice. But I have no problem with them looking for quality strikers. We could use depth at every position on the field.

volatilelyle.com

by almost awesome on Aug 7, 2011 3:49 PM PDT reply actions

I guess Johnson has an all-around game

And he’s played well lately, but I’m not sure he isn’t a good reason to not pursue quality guys.

volatilelyle.com

by almost awesome on Aug 7, 2011 4:05 PM PDT up reply actions

I definitely agree

If Spencer and GW think that someone could be a very good MLS player, they should to sign him. Even if the position is already stacked(which it isn’t, but still). As much as I would like more backline help, if the Timbers signed a player who would instantly be a top 5 MLS midfielder, I would be thrilled. They could work out the playing time issues later. And striker has a lot more open room than midfielder.

Say what you want about America, thirteen bucks still gets you a hell of a lot of mice!

by No Pity on Aug 7, 2011 5:27 PM PDT up reply actions

He is likely a step up from several of our strikers however

Brian Umony has some definate promise, but the biggest league he’s played is the South African league, and Eddie Johnson didn’t really find any success in Europe until he came over here.

USMNT D Clarence Goodson is actually the captain of Brondby this year, so its not a terrible club/league, and scoring every other game is pretty impressive (unless its in say, an oceania league, or some leagues in asia). AGF where he played before, was Benny Feilhabers club as well.

The biggest question with a mid-season signing, is can he mesh quickly with teammates, otherwise you pretty much give up a whole half season of wages for nothing. But he’s still very young (younger than most of strikers actually..just), has some caps with the Denmark national team, and to be fair, is probably more talented than most of the strikers on our roster.

I’d be interested, but I’d want to see what his wage demands are. As a DP (ala Hassli) I’m a little more 50-50, but if he could be had for a salary right around Cooper’s, I’d be very interested.

Here’s a highlight film from 06-07, looked to be very comfortable in the box (wouldn’t be drifting out of the box like Cooper has a habit of), pretty compentent in the air, and had a few nice touches in the box to get enough space….looks like a better Eddie Johnson to me…..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3jG4zHjzRY

by zaggy on Aug 8, 2011 8:35 AM PDT reply actions

If they think he can fit in the system sign him.

I don’t think we should worry about wages to much since we have lots of cash to spend. My guess if we sign him, one of our higher payed strikers would be cut.

by aviatorlol on Aug 8, 2011 2:01 PM PDT reply actions

"lots of cash"

Not to sound snarky, but can you prove this? I highly doubt that the Timbers have a bottomless well of funding. And it’s not as simple as “bring one in, let one go”, especially in the middle of a season.

by pdb on Aug 8, 2011 2:36 PM PDT up reply actions

Sallaries posted somewhere...

If you can find a link, it will show somewhere that we are are one the lowest paid squads in the league or something like that. I think MP still has some cash he could invest assuming he is a quality player but since according to the post below, he may cost 1mil a year so they gota make sure this guy can be a real impact player.

by aviatorlol on Aug 8, 2011 4:05 PM PDT up reply actions

Salaries being low does not automatically mean the Timbers have "lots of cash" to spend

It may, in fact, mean they have very little cash to spend. Merritt Paulson isn’t an Emirati billionaire, he’s going to fund the team out of his own pocket. “impact player” or otherwise, the Timbers are a medium-market team in a small league; they can’t just sign whoever they want and damn the consequences.

by pdb on Aug 8, 2011 4:50 PM PDT up reply actions

From what I've seen

He’s definitely a DP. Signed for over a million to Celtic and even if they sell him for half of what they bought him for, thats 750k. I’ve heard some rumors his wages would be near a million too, and his agent has said he won’t take a paycut…he’s willing to bide his time with the 2 more years he has with Celtic. While Merritt likely does have this cash…this is a REAL DP signing, on a completely different scale than Chara’s. This guy might be making about what half the team makes.

by zaggy on Aug 8, 2011 2:49 PM PDT reply actions

That seems too pricey

He would need to instantly be one of the best players in MLS, and even then, the team doesn’tt have very good service, so his impact would be lessened. Paulson can afford the occasional DP, but I have no problems if he would prefer to sign players more like Chara, who at this point is shaping up like a real bargain.

Say what you want about America, thirteen bucks still gets you a hell of a lot of mice!

by No Pity on Aug 8, 2011 5:50 PM PDT up reply actions