Let's talk strategy I.e. How the fuck are we going to get as good a left flank as we had last year

We let Wallace and Villafaña go in th off-season, and I whole-heartedly agree with those decisions. But if we want to win the CCL (which is of course our biggest and most important goal this year) we need solid starters at both left wing and left back. Without a solid left flank to shunt the ball to Nagbe and Melano, we're pretty much fucked.

I'm very hopeful for left back. Klute has a "huge ceiling," as Porter and the owner have been saying. He needs to be developed, but with Bortchers and Ridgewell, probably the two best defenders in the league, as role models and with the incredible work that the Timbers Academy is doing to develop players I have high hopes for his future. And Valentin is a solid back-up and has a more proven track record, so if Klute doesn't ever progress (which seems highly unlikely, to me) we have him as someone we can go to.

But that leaves left wing. Oy vey. I would say Wallace was the weakest starter last year, but that's not saying much because our team is absolutely packed with talent. But our aspirations are high and he's not quite CCL level, especially since the left wing in this system needs to be fast AND have a central midfielder mentality, with good skill on the ball to be able to link up well with Nagbe and Valeri and Charra, owning the midfield while Melano tears up the right side with pace and skill. Awesome.

But the problem is we have no such player on the squad right now. Melano is much weaker on the left side and should be the starter over Asprilla as right-wing, obviously. I mean, he's our DP and there's no way Adi isn't our starting striker. Melano starts. But Asprilla provides amazing depth to a position that in Timbers system has to run A LOT. Important to have a good back-up.

So we need a left-winger, all around player, with international quality. Oh yeah, also left-footed and hopefully ambidextrous. And all those qualities are rare. Ideally, they'd be Argentinian too, so they can link up well with Valeri and Melano. That'd be a monster midfield and with our back line and our beastly striker, Adi, we'd be unstoppable. But the question remains whether we'd be able to sign a play with those unique and varied skills and background.

For a dream, money-is-no-object choice, I've been playing with Piatti on FIFA 15. 88 pace and well-rounded stats in everything else in the 70s, and a left-footed Argentinian, too boot. I've been playing him on the left-wing, with Klute on left back and he really shores up the defense, helps posses and link-up the ball in midfield, and can zoom up the left to give accurate crosses every time. Oh, and he scores. Can't forget that vital part.

Of course, getting him to take a transfer deal would cost millions of dollars, but if we could find a player like Piatti, with good chemistry with Valeri, our team wouldn't be as good as it was with Wallace, we'd be much, much better. Not to disparage Wallace who was amazing for us, but if we find a star player like that for left-wing, fuck, I could see us winning the World Champions League Tournament and be able to beat the Barcelona and Bayern-Munichs of the world, which would be unprecedented and amazing, so we should definitely do that. Yes.

Thought?