By Niall McCusker

After mounting speculation during the week, the Portland Timbers confirmed this morning that they had signed 22 year-old forward Lucas Melano from Lanus in Argentina’s first division. The statement from the Timbers makes no mention of the terms of the transfer, but si.com claims the fee was $5 million along with $4 million in salary over a 4 year contract. That makes this deal probably the biggest financial investment the Timbers have ever made in any player.

So what are they getting for their money? As noted in the Timbers statement he has notched 8 goals in 42 league games, 5 of those have come in 2015 when he graduated from the right side of a 433 formation to take on the starting center forward role. He has also scored 3 goals in the Copa Sudamericana in a cup winning run by Lanus in 2013 – after the Copa Libertadores that is the most prestigious club competition in South America.

So while the scoring numbers might not exactly leap off the page, for a young player at a high level they are fairly respectable. Here is a closer look at his 2015 season:

The information above was sourced here. All games are in the league, except (AC) – the Argentine Cup.

That was certainly a highly productive trip to Mendoza, Argentina’s wine country, to put the hammer on Godoy Cruz in March. But apart from that he only registered in one other game.

Looking back at the Clausura (second half of the league) in 2014, the main thing to note is that Melano was on the bench for quite a few games and when he started it was on the right side of the attack.

Nothing in the goals column here and just a solitary assist. When we look at the first half of the league (Apertura) for 2014 the new signing only starts in 2 games and comes off the bench in 3 more. Lanus played 37 games in all competitions in that part of their season, so that is quite a few missed by Melano, who reportedly had some injury issues that season.

One has to go back to back to October 2013 to find another goal, when he came off the bench with half an hour to go against San Lorenzo to get a goal and an assist (the pope will not have been pleased). So even allowing for injuries in 2014 that was over 1600 minutes of action without a goal. That’s a scoring hiatus of Nagbe-esque proportions.

Like most people who have recently become aware of this transfer I have only seen some brief highlights of this player, he looks to have size, speed, some skill and accurate heading ability. So what the Timbers are buying here is potential.

It’s a large amount to spend for that and some might prefer buying the finished product in a ‘mature’ European star. But those don’t always work out either and the check Merritt Paulson had to sign to bid Kris Boyd goodbye several years ago may yet be fresh in his mind. (Oh well – it was money he spent wisely on some nice new follicles)

Argentina is a football factory (not to confused with the terrible Danny Dyer movie of the same name), probably the largest exporter of talent in the world, a player with a goal every other game will going to Europe. So looking for the hidden gems with potential can be a good way to go for a club of more modest means. The last acquisition Portland made at Lanus was Diego Valeri, who certainly work out very nicely.

For Melano the statistics are not quite there yet, but he looks to have the physical attributes and with a sizable cohort of his countrymen already with the team he should have no problem settling in Portland. Until he is seen in the flesh in Oregon, fans will have to trust that the Timber’s organization has done their homework and see ways that they can realize Lucas Melano’s potential to have him blossom into a star in MLS.