After a strong three-week trial and some negotiating with the Seattle Sounders, the Portland Timbers have signed defender Mikael Silvestre, team owner Merritt Paulson announced Tuesday.

Addressing the thin depth at forward, the Timbers will also bring in French striker Frederic Piquionne for a trial. The 34-year-old forward is expected to play in the Timbers' preseason game against Dallas Wednesday.

Silvestre, 35, reportedly signed a two-year deal with the Timbers. He is a center back - he has also played at outside back in his career - with an impressive resume that includes 10 seasons with Manchester United and three with Arsenal of the English Premier League. He played the past three seasons with Werder Bremen of the German Bundesliga.

The 6-foot Silvestre played very well in preseason games in Arizona - he scored the only goal in the Timbers' 1-0 win against Seattle Feb. 5 - during his trial period with the Timbers from Jan. 21 to Feb. 9. The Timbers were interested in signing Silvestre, but they returned to Portland without him and he remained in Arizona.

Silvestre then had a trial run with Seattle for a week, but the Sounders reportedly opted to pursue center back Djimi Traore. Seattle initially owned Silvestre's "discovery rights," so the Timbers had to cut a deal with the Sounders to obtain the rights. The Timbers likely sent the Sounders allocation money or low-round draft pick(s) in exchange for Silvestre's rights.

(Note: According to Soccer by Ives, Seattle sent a 2014 second-round draft pick to Chivas in exchange to acquire Shalrie Joseph.)

The Timbers' need to sign Silvestre picked up some urgency after their 3-3 draw against San Jose Sunday. With starting center back David Horst sidelined with a groin injury and Futty Danso missing the game with a sore foot, second-year players Hanyer Mosquera and Andrew Jean-Baptiste started at center back against the Earthquakes.

Mosquera, looking unfit, played horribly - he failed to mark San Jose's Victor Bernardez' header for the Earthquakes' second goal - and was yanked by coach Caleb Porter in favor of rookie Dylan Tucker-Gangnes at halftime. Baptiste's handball in the box resulted in a penalty kick goal for San Jose three minutes into the game, but he was relatively steady for the remainder of the contest.

Still, the four are very inconsistent and bringing in a battle-tested veteran like Silvestre should help in more ways than just on the field.

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