Gastón Fernández signed with the Portland Timbers in January and it is already clear that he is giving Caleb Porter options all over the field.

The Timbers like to interchange attacking players to confuse opposing defenses and maintain possession.

Porter has used him on the left, through the middle and at the tip of the midfield three at different points depending on the demands of the game and the needs of the team. Fernández tends to prefer the left, which gives the Timbers a nice balance with Diego Valeri usually drifting right.

“Anywhere you use him, he’s going to pop up, he’s going to read defenses and find the gaps and seams,” Porter said after the 1-1 draw with Chicago on Sunday. “He gets in those – what I call – hard spots in between the layers and the seams. He knows how to operate in there. He has great pictures in terms of how he sees the game. But when he gets closer to goal, he can also score goals.”

The Timbers have question marks at their number nine spot, which goal scoring from Fernández would help alleviate.