Kekuta Manneh will meet with the media a little after 2 p.m. Saturday with a chance of making his MLS debut Saturday evening at Mapfre Stadium against Orlando City SC.

At some point Friday, barring a delayed flight, Kekuta Manneh will arrive in Columbus.

He’ll meet with the media a little after 2 p.m. Saturday with a chance of making his MLS debut Saturday evening at Mapfre Stadium against Orlando City SC.

Crew SC coach and sporting director Gregg Berhalter said Friday he’s not concerned with Manneh’s lack of familiarity with his new teammates’ playing styles, adding that sometimes it’s an advantage to be thrown into the mix with little context.

“I think sometimes the lack of preparation could actually help, but what I’d say is we’re going to be smart about it,” Berhalter said. “We realize that he’s traveling across the country the day before a game. But we’ll figure it out.”

Berhalter and the Crew acquired Manneh, a 22-year-old forward, from the Vancouver Whitecaps on Thursday in a trade that sent Crew SC midfielder Tony Tchani, $225,000 in targeted allocation money and $75,000 in general allocation money to Vancouver.

If Manneh is re-signed by the Crew, Vancouver will retain Crew SC’s first-round SuperDraft pick in the following draft. If he’s traded within MLS, Vancouver receives additional GAM, and if he’s traded outside MLS, Vancouver will retain a portion of the transfer fee.

Berhalter pulled the trigger on the Manneh deal knowing he likes his current front four of Ethan Finlay, Federico Higuain, Justin Meram and Ola Kamara, which creates a puzzle for how many of the five players he will use in a given game – Adam Jahn and Niko Hansen make seven players to factor in – and how long he will use each.

It’s a puzzle that will become easier to solve, Berhalter said, once the MLS schedule spreads players thin.

“That’s exactly it because I also know that when May starts, we’re playing a lot of midweek games,” Berhalter said. “I also know that there are injuries, I also know that there (are) call-ups, there’s a number of things that can affect the quality of your squad. We think that by having more quality, obviously we’ll be able to maintain that through those stretches.”

Higuain said what makes Crew SC’s attacking players complement one another well is their differences. Manneh, who has 22 goals in 101 MLS regular-season appearances, adds another element: Speed.

“Of course, I think he’s a little bit faster than us,” Higuain said with a laugh. “I wish him the best. I told (the media) before we started the season, I think this year, I felt something different. The guys who come to help us are doing a great job. You can see the last (game-winning) goal by (rookie) Niko (Hansen). So we are very happy and I hope the best for (Manneh).”

Mensah ‘to the wire’

Berhalter said Crew SC defender Jonathan Mensah (hamstring strain) is in a “race against time” to get ready for Saturday’s game.

After Mensah used a stationary bike during Tuesday’s training and then progressed to jogging over the course of the week, he was again limited to “jogging and partial participation,” Friday, Berhalter said.

Raitala’s status unknown

Jukka Raitala was limited Thursday in a recovery day after a full day of flying back from Austria on Wednesday. Raitala played a full game Tuesday for Finland’s national team in a 1-1 draw in an international friendly against Austria.

If Raitala is unable to play, Waylon Francis, who started in Raitala’s absence last Saturday against Portland, is a strong candidate to replace him at left back.

“I think he looks all right,” Berhalter said of Raitala. “I’m going to have a conversation with him later today, but I think he looks good.”

@AEricksonCD