The deal took months to complete. The asking price was high. But it speaks to just how enamored the Timbers were with Sebastian Blanco in the winter of 2017, and how convinced that he would be a difference maker for years to come, that they stayed the course.Negotiations between Portland and San Lorenzo, Blanco's former club, were as "drawn out and lengthy as any we've ever had," Timbers general manager and president of soccer Gavin Wilkinson remembers. "To say the process of acquiring him was complex is an understatement."But the team side was just one side of it; the player needed to be convinced, too, that it was the right fit. According to Wilkinson, that’s where the team turned to the man it often turns to when it needs a clutch assist: Diego Valeri.In a small-world coincidence, Valeri and Blanco had grown up less than three miles apart, in bordering communities in the Buenos Aires suburbs — which is itself more than 6,800 miles from Portland, Oregon. They came up through the same youth academy at Lanus and had known each other since they were boys. So Valeri's endorsement of the Timbers carried more weight than another players’ might have when the club made its pitch to Blanco."It was important that Blanco heard it not just from myself, or the coaching staff, but from another player — and it was a player he liked and admired," Wilkinson said.At the time, Valeri was the Timbers’ undisputed leading man; the smiley, luminous face of the franchise. Sure, Diego Chara predated Valeri’s arrival, and retains an integral role, but the Colombian has always been more of an understated presence. Valeri, practically from the moment he arrived, enmeshed himself in the Portland community (His young daughter, Connie, has long been a fixture at Thorns NWSL games). Later the year of Blanco’s signing, Valeri was named MLS MVP, racking up 21 goals and 11 assists. Blanco, for his part, was a steady if not eye-popping contributor. A few years on the Blanco/Valeri dynamic is more complex. Though they remain a fruitful on-field duo, Blanco’s talent and flair for the dramatic may now even eclipse his old Lanus buddy’s status. In 2019, if Portland is to reach a second consecutive MLS Cup and its third in five years, it may more likely be Blanco, than Valeri, who leads the charge.Contract statuses add another level of intrigue to the pair’s future in Portland, with both players’ deals set to expire at the end of this season. Seeking to avoid a worst-case scenario in which they had to replace multiple influential players in the same offseason — to say nothing of the situation with leading scorer Brian Fernandez, who recently checked himself into the league's substance abuse and behavioral health program — the club was forced to prioritize.The Athleticunderstands that they recently agreed a two-year extension with Blanco, but have held off on announcing it until after the season. Valeri, meanwhile, remains in limbo.The Timbers and their club icon remain at an impasse as the postseason prepares to kick off, with no easy resolution in sight. There are salary cap implications and questions about the value of loyalty, and of getting paid for past feats versus future performance, and a whole lot else behind the Valeri stalemate. Both players could technically fit in under the cap, as designated players or otherwise."The best thing moving forward would be to have both of them here," Wilkinson said.And why not? Valeri and Blanco have different strengths, and fill different roles. Valeri is a true No. 10, a central-midfield playmaker. Blanco can capably slot into multiple positions, from the wing into the middle. In many ways, they're a natural partnership."When we signed Blanco, it coincided with Valeri having the best season of his career and being MVP," Wilkinson noted. "I believe that they help one another, and that they're very different. ... Valeri was essential in us getting Blanco, and Blanco was essential in the success of Valeri."Yet locker rooms are delicate ecosystems. Status within the internal hierarchy is constantly in flux. Blanco, at 31, is two years younger than Valeri, closer to the apex of his prime. Statistically, their production this season has been similar — if anything, they favor the older player. Valeri leads the team with 16 assists (Blanco has 11), and has netted eight goals to Blanco's six. Those raw numbers can be a bit misleading, however; Valeri's two additional goals both came from the penalty spot, and half of those assists are secondary, whereas all but one of Blanco's is primary.And there is a sense in and around the club that this is increasingly Blanco's team – he has grown more and more comfortable as a leader the longer he settles into the Northwest, and has been everything Wilkinson thought he would be when they first short-listed him as a potential signing.One benefit of a drawn-out negotiating process is that you get to develop a real sense of the person you're attempting to bring in. During the many conversations Wilkinson and Blanco had during this period, it was more often the player asking questions of the GM, rather than vice versa like you might expect."He's a very, very competitive person," Wilkinson said, and Blanco asked about the structure of the club, about who else they were trying to bring in, wanting to get a sense for Portland's ambition. "It wasn't a matter of, ‘I want to change league and to make more money.’ It was a matter of, ‘I want a new challenge, and I want to be successful.’"Having done well recruiting out of South America in the past, the Timbers had developed a checklist for the type of designated player they wanted to bring in."We wanted to bring into somebody who was grounded," Wilkinson said, "somebody who had travelled, who spoke English, who knew the pitfalls of a new league."Blanco, who had played abroad in Ukraine as well as in the English Premier League, checked all of those boxes. It gave the club confidence that he would settle in quickly."The part that separated him from a lot of different foreigners was the way he processed information immediately," Wilkinson said, "how he understood what was expected or him, and the partnerships he made on the field."Blanco has gelled with Valeri, most of all, a symbiotic relationship that makes sense, given their shared history. The power of their partnership was on full display last postseason, when Valeri tallied four goals and two assists, and Blanco netted a number of crucial goals, including the thunderbolt that defined the Portland-Kansas City Western Conference final.
https://youtu.be/SW4SJqMJzvk?t=86It would be a cruel irony if the ascendance of the player Valeri helped recruit eventually came to overshadow him — or, even more painfully, if he made it easier for the Timbers to play hardball in negotiations, and nudge him out of town. At the dawn of the postseason, when brackets are still full of empty lines and filled with possibility, optimists can still dream up a happier final chapter — wherein the potential Valeri sold his fellow Lanus native on at the beginning is fulfilled.
(Photo: Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports)
Matt Pentz is a contributor for The Athletic who covers soccer. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, Howler Magazine and ESPN. His book on the Sounders’ first MLS Cup title run was published by ECW Press in March 2019.Follow Matt on Twitter@mattpentz