Could the Portland Timbers Be After Jozy Altidore?

Taylor Twellman is a guy who gets scoops and today's is a big one. The ESPN commentator had the Portland Timbers, as well as Toronto FC and the New York Red Bulls, linked with United States Men's National Team forward Jozy Altidore.

Twellman tweeted out the link this morning, saying that multiple sources are linking Jozy and a return to MLS.

Multiple sources tell me Jozy Altidore and @MLS are in discussions about his return this winter with 3 teams applying. #TFC #RBNY #POR

— Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) January 7, 2015

Coming hot on the heels of Merritt Paulson's recent declaration that "there is a USMNT guy on our radar now" in a Facebook Q&A, there seems to be some real possibility behind this one.

New York and Toronto are formidable teams to be going up against in a potential bidding war for Altidore's services, however. The Red Bulls are Altidore's original team; he played in New York from 2006 to 2008, scoring 15 goals as a teenager before being sold to Spain's Villareal for an MLS-record transfer fee of $10 million. Toronto, meanwhile, is home to Altidore's USMNT teammate Michael Bradley and has shown a willingness to spend on big-name players, although bringing in yet another American player to a Canadian team would be a strange move from a fan perspective.

Altidore is one of the most well known American players currently, having risen to national-team regular during his rampant time in Holland with AZ Alkmaar and retained his place there despite his recent struggles with England's Sunderland.

The conventional wisdom has long been that Altidore needs to move on from Sunderland, so a move back to the US could be a good one for the striker.

Could the Timbers end up with Jozy Altidore? What do you think?