Timbers, Valeri Make It Official: Diego Heading Home To Argentina

PORTLAND, OR — It's been a great time for the Portland Timbers and Diego Valeri, the player that they describe as "club legend Diego Valeri. In the nine years that the Timbers and Valeri have spent together, the team has twice won the Western Conference Championship and once won the MLS Cup. He was also the league's MVP in 2017.

That time is over.

After 306 games with the Timbers – 265 of which he started – Valeri is headed back to Club Atletico Lanus in Argentina, where the 35-year-old midfielder started his career. In that time, he scored 100 goals and 104 assists.

His 100th – and final – goal came in July against the Los Angeles Football Club.

The Timbers made the announcement Thursday afternoon.

Owner Merritt Paulson described Valeri said that he doesn't believe that there's been a more "impactful" signing of a player from overseas "in the history of MLS than Diego Valeri."

He added that Valeri wasn't "a brand to out fans in the seats and sell sponsorships but a rising European level talent who chose to make America his home and legacy.

"In Portland, he has meant everything to us on the pitch and in the community."

As part of the deal between the Timbers and Lanus, Lanus will come to Portland next year to play a friendly at Providence Park in Valeri's honor.

He will play one half for Lanus and one half for the Timbers.

Valeri is the only player in league history to win Newcomer of the Year, regular-season MVP, and MLS Cup MVP.