Portland Timbers Legend Diego Valeri Returning To Argentina

PORTLAND, OR — It would be very hard to overstate what Diego Valeri has meant to the Portland Timbers. He helped lead them to two Western Conference Championships – in 2015 and 2021. He helped lead them to the MLS Cup in 2015 and they lost in the title game last year.

And now it's coming to an end.

The Timbers are near a deal that would transfer Valeri back to Lanus, the team in Argentina where he got his start. The 35-year-old is believed to be nearing the end of his career and sources say that he wants to go out where he came in.

The news was first reported by MLSSoccer.com, which added that as part of the deal, the Timbers will receive $176,000 from Lanus. The Timbers will be absolved from Valeri's cap hit this coming season.

Since joining the Timbers in 2013, Valeri played 262 regular-season games for them, starting 230 of them.

He scored 86 goals and had 91 assists in those games and was named the league's MVP in 2017.

"He made this league a better league," Timbers coach Giovanni Saverese said in December. "He made the Portland Timbers be what it is.

"He's shown all his quality, he's played always with so much passion and he's done a fantastic job to have been an extremely important player for this organization. He's a legend for Portland."