Report: Timbers to sign Cosmos midfielder Andres Flores

The Oregonian’s Jamie Goldberg is reporting that Portland Timbers Football Club has signed El Salvador international and New York Cosmos midfielder Andres Flores.

Flores is a versatile midfielder who primarily played as a number 8 or 10 for the Cosmos bagging two goals and eight assists (team leader in assists) as a regular starter in the 2017 campaign, and 4 goals and 6 assists as a part-time starter in 2016. He also has 57 caps with the El Salvador national team since 2008, including captaining the squad’s fourth place finish in the 2014 Copa Centroamericana and their third-place finish in the 2017 competition.

Largely a part-time starter for the Cosmos until becoming a fixture in 2017, Flores will be expected to provide midfield depth for the Timbers at all three central midfield positions. While at 27, Flores is slightly older than other recent PTFC signings, new coach Giovanni Savarese obviously valued him highly enough to bring him along into an increasingly crowded Timbers midfield.

Savarese recently spoke about wanting to foster strong competition for every spot in the starting eleven, and it will be interesting to see how many minutes players like Flores and Eryk Williamson will play over the course of the season.