Oakland Roots announced they signed former Portland Timbers defender Justin Rasmussen to a contract on Friday.
Rasmussen, 25, lined up as a left back for the Timbers, while he also has experience as a winger during his college career. However, multiple sources within Oakland see him as a potential starter as their left-side center back and depth to the left wingback role.
“What I really like about him is we talked about getting more defenders who were in that peak age-range. He’s going to be coming into a stage where he can use his tools,” said a team source.
One source describes him as a center back who has the mobility to push up and down the field similar to how they deployed Danny Barbir.
“He’s left-footed, he’s a center back and a left back who can move up and down the field. He’s very, very good with the ball and very strong. He has room to grow positionally but is good with the ball in the Barbir-type mold, but can provide a lot more going forward.”
Without Barbir, Roots lost a center back who contributed heavily in attack–recording a career high of five assists to go along with two goals, which tied his career high. With Rasmussen, they found another defensive player who can effectively contribute going forward.
“It’s not a like-for-like, they [Barbir and Rasmussen] are definitely different players but they have similarities. You noticed Barbir was often pushing the ball forward and some of our better moments, along with his goals, were when he could push the ball. We also have Camden Riley on the right, so they give us ability to move the ball forward and change shape as well,” said a source.
With Rasmussen’s addition, Roots appear to be done adding to its back line alongside Gagi Margvelashvili, Riley and Niall Logue rounding things out. One source believes Oakland’s new defensive give them a more mobile group and versatility to play multiple roles: “The mobility piece was key…”
Rasmussen began his career with Arizona FC of the NPSL in 2018 before signing with Orange County SC’s U-23 team the following year. He joined Portland Timbers’ U-23 squad in 2021 before becoming the No. 27 overall pick by Portland in the 2022 MLS Super Draft.
He bounced between Portland Timbers’ MLS team and Timbers 2 over the last two years.
For his career, Rasmussen has 15 appearances for the Timbers’ first team, including 11 starts and 979 total minutes. He’s completed 68.4 percent of his passes, won 17 tackles, blocked seven shots, eight interceptions, and 30 clearances.
Here’s our updated tracker of all Oakland Roots transactions this offseason.
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