After weeks of reports linking him to the club, the Portland Timbers officially announced that they have acquired Costa Rican defensive midfielder David Guzman from Saprissa on Thursday.
Guzman, 26, has made more than 180 appearances since debuting professionally in 2009, winning five Primera Division titles with the club. A fringe member of the Costa Rican national team, he has 25 career caps with Los Ticos, most recently being named to the squad but not appearing off the bench in the country’s Hexagonal opening wins against Trinidad & Tobago and the US last month.
Guzman will join a Timbers’ defensive midfield corps that includes regular starter Diego Chara and Ben Zemanski, who missed the entirety of 2016 with a knee injury. Guzman appeared in all four of Saprissa’s 2016/17 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League matches as they won Group B over Portland and CD Dragon (El Salvador); he played all 180 minutes in the club’s two matches against the Timbers.
