The Portland Timbers have appeared to pull off a fantastic coup, signing Colombian forward Jorge Perlaza, who played most recently for Deportes Tolima. Perlaza is only 26, but has nearly 200 games of professional experience. He scored 15 goals in 31 games last season in Colombia, guiding Tolima to a place in Copa Libertadores. Perlaza has also appeared in Copa Sudamericana.

With Bright Dike going down with a long term injury, Portland appeared to have a serious lack of depth at the striker position. Perlaza changes that, giving them another option up top. Perlaza has been in training with the Timbers, but it’s not clear how much of a role he will have with the team early in the season. He scored a goal for the Timbers in their 2-0 friendly win over Seattle Sounders at the Cascadia summit. The man whose playing time is most likely affected by Perlaza’s signing is Eddie Johnson, who looked like the opening day starter up top next to Kenny Cooper. Perlaza is a bit of a poacher, so he could potentially strike up a good partnership with Cooper, a big forward who likes to drop deep to find the ball.