Portland Timbers: Jaroslaw Niezgoda brings MLS Cup-winning attack

The Portland Timbers are reportedly looking to bring in the Polish top flight’s leading scorer, Jaroslaw Niezgoda. The center-forward can elevate the attack to an MLS Cup-winning standard.

Ekstraklasa leading scorer, Jaroslaw Niezgoda, might be on his way to the Portland Timbers for the 2020 season.

He currently leads the Polish top flight with 14 goals in 18 matches. Reports have linked the 24-year-old to the Timbers who are in need of another striker for their campaign ahead.

Niezgoda plays for Legia Warsaw, who are in first place at the winter break in the Ekstraklasa. He has been part of the club since the 2015/16 season and has had multiple double-digit-goal seasons in his career in the Polish first division.

No senior international appearances have come to date for Niezgoda, though he did play in the 2017 European Under-21 Championship where he made three appearances for Poland. He is pushing hard for the senior national team now, however, with a prolific season that rivals the best goalscoring campaigns across the world.

The Polish striker would be joining recent New England Revolution signing Adam Buksa as the latest striker from the Ekstraklasa to join an MLS club and will also be hoping to translate his goalscoring from Europe. Given his figures thus far in his career, there is little reason to think that he will not be able to do so.

https://twitter.com/_Ekstraklasa_/status/1205956372241756161

For the Portland Timbers, after the termination of Brian Fernandez’s contract at the end of last season, they needed to bring in a player who has proven himself to be a goalscorer with consistency.

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Jeremie Ebobisse is the only forward currently on the roster, and while his 11 goals last season while playing out wide and centrally suggest he is capable of leading the line effectively, depth, rotation and reliability throughout an entire season are concerns. Niezgoda, then, fits that mold perfectly.

The door is open for Niezgoda to prolifically lead the Timbers line. And given the creativity behind him, there is little reason to think that he cannot be effective in doing so. And by adding Niezgoda, Portland will release the pressure from Ebobisse to be the sole producer of goals.

Only once in the past five seasons have the Timbers finished with two strikers putting up double-digit goals at the end of the season. That one time was last year and the Timbers will hope to repeat that with Niezgoda in the lineup.

Look for the striker to bring a big presence to the pitch in 2020 if the Timbers due in fact sign him. He could be the individual they need to elevate their attack to an MLS Cup-winning standard.