Obviously this kind of news will impact it. The Portland Timbers announced on Friday that forward José Adolfo Valencia will undergo surgery to repair damaged cartilage in his left knee. Valencia is expected to miss six to 12 months.

Valencia was a Designated Player brought in this winter and will now go on the Timber’s injured reserve list for the year. A new agreement was put in place today between Portland and Valencia’s club Santa Fe. The new loan agreement terms do not require him to count as a Young Designated Player this season nor will he count as one of the team’s international players.

Valencia, who was originally acquired from Independiente Santa Fe on Dec. 15, will conduct his rehabilitation with the team in Portland.

Tough break for Portland here and for Valencia for that matter. There had been some chatter about whether or not he was going to be healthy enough to play this season. Obviously this news trumps that a good bit as he definitely will not be.

Portland hasn’t indicated whether or not they will go out and try to get another DP to replace Valencia this season. My bet is they will not. At least for them he will not count against the salary cap so they could at least try to get someone.

Fabian Castillo would be one of the "young" DPs for next year. (Getty Images)

Yesterday was a fairly busy day for Major League Soccer. They had two clubs in the CONCACAF Champions League, both of whom did very well at home. They signed a former US National team striker in Eddie Johnson, to which club he’ll end up with we will have to wait until tomorrow to find out.

And then there was this amendment to the Designated Player rule.

During a media call, MLS executive vice president Todd Durbin outlined the process by which teams receive a credit on their salary-budget charges if they sign younger players to DP contracts. Players age 20 or younger will count $150,000 against the per-team cap of $2.675 million rather than the regular hit of $335,000, and players 21-23 will count $200,000.

“If you look at it, our Designated Players are anywhere from mid to late 20s to early 30s,” said Durbin during the conference call. “We’re getting good players, veteran players and players with experience but we’ve been out of the market for young, promising players in this area.

“We’re hoping with this rule change we’ll tear down this last barrier of entry and bring in quality players at every place in their career and truly have the ability to get into the market of young players to be able to bring in and grow stars of the future for Major League Soccer.”

This new rule will take effect next season.

Teams will still be bound by the three DP maximum and will not be able to trade slots around to have more than three. That much is good.

In a way I love these new additions to the DP rule. It shows that a lot of MLS clubs want to go after young talent overseas. We’ve already seen two clubs do that this year with FC Dallas and the New England Revolution signing very young DPs.

But what I don’t like about this rule change is that current players in this league or any other in the US cannot be signed using this mechanism. Sure the league doesn’t want teams to sign a home grown or Generation adidas player to this, that’s fine, those systems are in place for a reason. But say a kid like Luis Gil or even a Brek Shea could not be given a DP tag, even though both meet the age requirements for this rule change. Teams can go out and snag a young kid from a foreign league though, like say a Josh Gatt, a player that has been making loads of headlines in Europe already this season.

So rather than giving the clubs an incentive to keep the quality players that they have developed, the league is putting greater emphases on signing talent from outside the league. Hey, at least this time around it is to sign attractive young talent.

I do see this rule changing a lot of the ways that some teams operate their budgets for next season. Teams that we wouldn’t normally expect to sign a DP like a Chivas USA, a San Jose Earthquakes or a Columbus Crew may be more inclined to go out and sign a couple young players to this new rule. Its less of a gamble than taking a DP that is a little older, like what Dallas did with Denilson a while back.

Where does this rule change really come from? In a way it has been worked on for a while but I wouldn’t be at all shocked if a lot of it had to do with the signing of Freddy Adu. See, had he not left MLS back in 2007, he wouldn’t be eligible for this new rule. But since he came back to the league from a foreign league, he falls right into it for next year.

Yesterday Chivas USA was all set to get midfielder Freddy Adu as their first Designated Player but today their upper management had second thoughts about the deal and went against it. So in came the Philadelphia Union who have now signed Adu.

Fox Soccer was the first to report this deal.

No word yet on whether or not the Union deal is a DP contact for Adu or if he is just merely going through the allocation order (Philadelphia sits at number two in that). My bet is he’s a DP and so the club will still hold that second spot in the allocation order behind Chivas USA.

The 22-year old will now head to Philadelphia to reunite with former manager Peter Nowak. Now, don’t worry Union fans, the issues the two used to have is all in the past. Both have a level of respect for one another that wasn’t there in their DC days.

The Union have been longing for a playmaker since they came into the league last year. Adu brings a good bit of creativity to the table and will make the Union a better club offensively. With the Union in the hunt for the Eastern Conference lead with Columbus, KC and New York, signing some offensive weapons was something they needed to do in a big way, especially after the loss of Carlos Ruiz.

The loser in all of this is obviously Chivas USA. The club wanted him and needed him but at the end of the day their owner didn’t want to go in that direction. Jorge Vergara killed the deal at the last moment.

Freddy Adu could be making his way back to MLS. (Getty Images)

With the transfer window set to close next week, clubs are racing, and I mean racing, to get deals done here. I’ve seen today that Seattle is hoping to get some deal done while Chivas USA is hoping to land a much bigger fish..er…yeah.

Chivas is hoping to sign Freddy Adu as their club’s next Designated Player. Yes, I kid you not, that is what they want to do.

The LA-based club is hoping Adu is the final piece to the puzzle to help push this club into the playoffs and to help be a centerpiece for the club should they get their own stadium.

Adu currently has one year remaining on his contract with Benfica, but the club is said to be ready to let Adu walk away from his contract. Benfica had been loaning out Adu to various clubs throughout Europe since 2007.

Chivas had passed on Benny Feilhaber earlier this season in hopes that a bigger star would be coming back to the US to sign with MLS. Adu fits that bill for them and if he does end up getting a DP contact the club could possibly by-pass the Allocation System for signing Adu and remain the top club in the order.

If that is the case the club could go after another returning US player. Fox Soccer is suggesting Eddie Johnson.

I love this move for Chivas and Adu if it does take place. Chivas gets a creative player that they need in their midfield (and possible a solid striker if that Johnson thing would come to pass). Its a big gamble for both sides but for a young guy like Adu, it gets him the playing time he desperately needs. Plus it doesn’t hurt that LA is Jurgen Klinsmann’s backyard and all.

I knew this would be a busy week in terms of player movement but I think its safe to say it could be a real busy week. Anyways, I just wrote a little article about how the New England Revolution are set to sign their first DP, 22-year old Argentine forward Milton Caraglio.

I can’t say whether or not this is a good pickup or not. Getting a DP striker that has knee problems to play on turf sounds like a bad idea to me (and most of you who’ve already tweeted me the same).

More than likely the DP tag comes from the transfer and now the player salary. That seems to be the new thing with DP signings for teams. Plus, does anyone actually see the Revs paying this guy a top level salary? Even if his salary were high, it would be a discounted rate for a DP since they take a bit off for DP signings halfway through the season.

Still, good for the Revs to make a move seeing how their offense needs any help that it can get. This now leaves the Colorado Rapids and Chivas USA as the only MLS teams to never sign a DP.

Frank Rost joins the New York Red Bulls as their third DP. (Getty Images)

The New York Red Bull goalkeeper issue has been a well documented thing all season long. The Red Bulls announced today the signing of veteran goalkeeper Frank Rost. Rost comes to New York after playing in the German Bundesliga for nearly 20 years.

But the kicker in all of this, Rost will be New York’s third Designated Player on their roster.

The 38-year old Rost started his professional career in 1992 with Werder Bremen, where he spent 10 years there. In 2002, Rost moved to Schalke 04, winning a starting spot and playing in 130 matches. Most recently he had been starting for Hamburger SV.

The Red Bulls were able to bring in Rost when the club freed up some salary in the Dwayne De Rosario trade to DC for Dax McCarty. Don’t be shocked if the club also finds a way to move Coundoul who has a higher salary at the moment as well. Either way the club cleared enough space to make room for Rost. Joining in the mid-season means he also won’t have a massive hit to the cap as a DP.

With all of that being said, I really like this signing for New York. Look for him to be similar to a Faryd Mondragon or even a Donovan Ricketts. He’s a leader in goal, which is something the Red Bulls have clearly lacked all season long. With a solid defense in front of him with guys like Tim Ream and Rafa Marquez it would be shocking to see the Red Bulls give up crappy goals again like they’ve been doing here and there this season.

Jarju joins Whitecaps FC after three successful seasons with Belgian club Royal Albert-Elisabeth Club (RAEC) de Mons. During the 2010-11 season, the 24-year-old scored 25 goals and added 13 assists in all competitions, including 18 goals in 33 league matches, four goals in six playoff games, and three goals in two Belgian Cup matches. During his three years with RAEC Mons, the 6-foot, 160-pound striker scored 43 goals in 118 appearances.

Last season he helped RAEC Mons win promotion to Belgium’s top-flight Jupiler Pro League after two seasons in the Belgian Second Division.

Expect the Whitecaps to use some combination of Jarju, Eric Hassli and Camilo to lead the attack now. If Jarju can adapt to the style of play in MLS it could end up being a great signing for the club. Vancouver has made some excellent moves already in their expansion season (and some not-so great ones as well). The move could also help ease the burden on Hassli, who has put in a good chunk of the goals for the Whitecaps already this season.

It’s exciting that the league now has an African DP, even if Jarju isn’t a household name here. Seeing that he’s also a young player at 24-years old is exciting as well.

What do you make of this signing?

Nigerian journalist and national team press officer Colin Udoh tweeted Monday evening that Major League Soccer’s first African designated player would be announced Tuesday. He added that the player captains his national team.

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/colinudoh/status/90565705602310145"]

Weber included two possible hints that could be signing today. Out of work African forwards who have captained their national team include Zimbabwean Benjani, 32, while Nigerian Kanu, 34, is coming off a quiet year with Portsmouth in England’s Championship.

It will be interesting to see exactly how well this new DP will work with Hassli and company. Hassli has done most of the Caps scoring himself this season due to the injury of Atiba Harris back in April. Before then, those two along with Brazilian Camilo were doing very well to find the back of the net.

Keep it here for more later on today as Vancouver signs their second DP.

With all the hype going into the Portland Timbers’ first home game of the season tomorrow night, the club made even bigger news this afternoon. They have signed midfielder Diego Chará as the club’s first Designated Player.

Chará will be added to the Timbers roster and will be eligible for selection upon the receipt of his P-1 visa.

The 25-year old striker joins the Timbers from Colombian first-division club Deportes Tolima, the same club where current Timbers striker Jorge Perlaza.

“Diego possesses a tireless work ethic, speed and exceptional technical ability,” Timbers general manager/technical director Gavin Wilkinson said in a team release. “He has consistently performed at a high level in Colombia and we’ve watched him closely for the past six months. We’ve stated that should a player become available that is exciting, young, talented, attack-minded and worth an investment of this type, we would definitely look to sign him. Diego is the right fit for the city and this organization.”

Prior to joining the Timbers, Chará scored two goals in nine league matches for Tolima as the club led the Liga Postobón in scoring through the first 11 games of the 2011 Apertura season with 23 goals. He also played in seven games in the 2011 Copa Libertadores, tallying an assist in a 2-0 win over Brazilian power Corinthians in the early stages of the tournament.

Chará is likely the playmaker that John Spencer has been looking for since day one. So far this season the Timbers attack has been hit or miss, mostly miss. With the likes of Kenny Cooper, Perlaza, rookie Darlington Nagbe, and Eddie Johnson, the Timbers have a quality attack already. Adding Chará will only help improve that.

(Note: if you check out my work on SBnation.com/soccer, this is merely a reprint of that story!)

Juan Pablo Angel is moving on after this season.. (Getty Images)

In a way most of us weren’t shocked to hear the news last night that New York Red Bull striker and Designated Player Juan Pablo Angel was most likely not to return to New York after this season. When asked last night on the broadcast of the US-Colombia game if he would return next year to the Red Bulls he said “I probably won’t”.

That’s bold for a guy that’s in the middle of helping his club go for a MLS Cup run right now. But again I doubt many of us were shocked by the news. Its not like the writing was on the wall or anything or that JPA was in the doghouse for Hans Backe. No, it just seemed like it was a matter of time before this sort of thing would happen. A DP leaving a MLS club when his contract ran out.

There’s little doubt that he’s been the truest of DPs since joining the league a couple years ago. His goal scoring ability and play on the field for the Red Bulls have been everything we hoped the DP-type players would be. When you think of DPs he’s one of the first that should come to mind, not David Beckham or Thierry Henry (though Henry will likely be a very good DP when its all said and done).

Now the question becomes, what happens to JPA? Also where will New York go from here? I’d imagine it will be a mutual split between the two. Either he’ll get picked up somewhere else in the world or another MLS club will give him a DP contract (New England anyone?). The Red Bulls will once again go out and find another big name to fill the third DP spot on the roster. I’d imagine this time around it will be a playmaker in the midfield and not another striker (they have Henry to fill that).