:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45984784/usa-today-8428730.0.jpg)
Reports have surfaced linking Uruguayan winger Cristian Techera with a move to the Vancouver Whitecaps. Journalist Julio Cesar Gard claims that the 22-year-old is nearing a deal to move to BC Place and is close to becoming the newest member of Carl Robinson's widely diverse roster. The 22-year-old is currently plying his trade at River Plate of Montevideo in his homeland's top flight and appears to represent the sort of winger the blue and white have supposedly been looking for over recent months. He has netted seventeen goals in fifty appearances for the club - which is no mean feat for an individual of his age, maturity, and experience - and has played an integral part in the Montevideo outfit's current fourth placed standing in the Apertura table.
Techera is left-footed and seems most comfortable out on the left, where Kekuta Manneh has started through the opening three games of the regular season, though it remains to be seen where Robinson will use him should this transfer come to fruition. He has scored seven in fourteen outings this campaign and has complemented that tally with four assists. For a side who so often are left frustrated with production in the final third, this news should come as great encouragement to supporters.
As Mark Weber of The Province notes, Techera would become the fifth Uruguayan to sign for the Caps under Robbo's tenure, joining additions from this past off-season Octavio Rivero and Diego Rodriguez along with 2014 arrivals Nicolas Mezquida and the now departed Sebastian Fernandez. The South American dynamic on the field and off of it has only yielded positive results and one has to hope that this domestic presence would accelerate Cristian's acclimation period in BC should he ultimately put pen to paper on an MLS contract.
More updates will follow on Eighty Six Forever as this story develops.