Portland Timbers Player Rankings #14: Danny Mwanga

One of the better trades Portland has had during their MLS existence was the swap of Jorge Perlaza for Danny Mwanaga. Danny did not see as much playing time as he probably would have wanted but when he did play you could see the potential and the skill set that could be utilized in Caleb Porter's system. Danny appeared in 18 games for Portland, starting 7 of them, and scored all three of his goals against San Jose.

The knock on Danny when he was at Philadelphia was that he could not function as a target striker and be placed alone up top. His goal production also went down during his second season with Philadelphia and was generally thought of as not as good of a player during his sophomore season. When he did play with a strike partner he was able to sit deeper and attack the opposition's back four which seemed to play to his strengths.

Stay or Go?

Danny was a big question mark going into the off season as he was finally graduating from his Generation Adidas contract. Graduating form GA status means his contract would then count against the cap and it was rumored his salary was highly inflated after he graduated from GA.If the contract could be renegotiated Danny would be a great fit for one of the two outside forwards with his passing ability and ability to hit long shots. Danny should be given a chance in Porter's system and for that reason should be kept around for the 2013 season and if Danny's goals against San Jose, which were things of beauty, could be replicated it would add a lot to Portland's offense.