‘Get your pens ready’: Portland Timbers’ Phil Neville talks Antony’s return, the Kristoffer Velde addition, and teases extra

BEAVERTON — The supervisor couldn’t wait to spill the beans.

Phil Neville was a handful of questions right into a press convention that the eyes of the MLS have been paying a bit extra consideration to than common — sure, the Timbers have been readying for his or her Leagues Cup match in opposition to Club America, however whereas Portland was coaching, information broke Monday morning of the membership’s long-awaited DP signing.

According to GiveMeSport’s Tom Bogert, Portland has signed Norwegian winger Kristoffer Velde from Olympiakos, giving the Timbers an attacking enhance to fill the position of the injured Jonathan Rodriguez.

And whereas Neville would give his ideas on what he promised to be a “big week” to return, the question that had the coach leaping to reply regarded somebody already on the roster.

In the morning’s coaching, Antony seemed like Antony, working gracefully round Portland’s observe pitch and peppering photographs on internet.

Antony’s wanting fairly wholesome out th….

“He’s good to go,” Neville interrupted. “He’s ready to start.”

So perhaps there was a touch of sarcasm when Neville was requested earlier how the week had been, and he bowed his head and lowered his voice and stated, “Yeah, really miserable.”

To recap the distress:

The Portland Timbers are 2-0 in Leagues Cup play and the one membership within the event but to concede a purpose heading into Wednesday’s match with Club America. The Timbers have recorded clear sheets in three consecutive video games, and Monday noticed a very wholesome roster take part at coaching — together with David Da Costa, who left Portland’s 4-0 win over San Luis on Wednesday with a shoulder damage, and Antony, who has been out since June 6 with a hamstring damage, but nonetheless leads the staff with six targets.

“We’ve gone through ups and downs for sure this year as a team and having to throw out a bunch of different lineups in preparation,” defender Kamal Miller stated. “We were on such a good run earlier in the year and then Antony went out and that changed a lot for us … It seems like everyone is coming back at the right moment.”

And then there’s the reported new addition.

The Timbers haven’t been shy when speaking in regards to the summer season switch window, with proprietor Merrit Paulson telling reporters again in June that the membership would “have access to what they need for the positional additions that we need.” The largest want then, and now, for the Timbers was an attacking winger to exchange Rodríguez, who led the Timbers in scoring in 2024 however performed simply 149 minutes in 2025 earlier than present process season-ending knee surgical procedure.

In Velde, the Timbers have reportedly paid $5 million for a 25-year-old who scored 29 targets and assisted on 18 extra throughout all competitions from 2022-24 with Lech Poznań within the Polish league, and scored six targets with two assists this previous 12 months with Olympiakos of Super League Greece.

Velde is half-Argentine, half-Norwegian and has one look with the Norwegian senior nationwide staff. And whereas neither Neville nor the Timbers would particularly affirm Velde’s signing, the coach did little to douse the flames as he dribbled round a query about how the winger’s profile slots in with the membership.

“Three weeks ago, I sat here and I said that I had lunch with the Paulson family, and I said that they could see the good work that everybody’s doing, and they’re going to back us,” Neville stated. “And I think this week you’ll see that the owners have backed us in a big way.”

“We know that it’s a DP spot out there to sign and I think the work that Ned [Grabavoy] has done behind the scenes has been phenomenal, really. You don’t get anywhere in this business without the backing of your owners. And over the last month, I think we felt the full weight of ownership support — excitement. They see where this team is going. They see the vision of this club. And I’ve got to say, I think this is going to be a big week for the Portland Timbers and I think that if you are a Portland Timbers fan, this week there’s going to be one or two really, really, really good bits of news.”

At the top of the press convention with a day flight to catch to Austin, Neville received up from his chair and began for the door earlier than leaving one final nugget for the room:

“It’s going to be a big week,” he stated. “Get your pens ready.”

This article initially appeared in The I-5 Corridor.

— Tyson Alger