The Philadelphia Union technical staff knew right away that acquiring Steven Vitoria from the Portuguese first-division side Benfica would not be the smoothest process.
For starters, the club had to make room in their lineup – and budget – by finalizing the deal to send Carlos Valdes on loan to Nacional of the Uruguayan Primera Division. They then had to send allocation money to the Vancouver Whitecaps – who made a play for Vitoria last year – in exchange for the center back’s rights.
And, of course, they had to negotiate with both Vitoria and Benfica, since it was a loan deal.
But having to jump through all of those hoops was certainly worth it for the Union, who believe Vitoria – who was acquired earlier this week on a one-year loan – will emerge as an MLS star as well as a team leader.
“He told us he wanted the opportunity and challenge to come here and be a leader of our team and try to get us a trophy,” Union head coach Jim Curtin said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday. “We thought it was a great fit.”
Curtin and Union technical director Chris Albright first met with Vitoria last summer, but Albright said the club “just couldn’t fit him in economically.” Still, they kept him in mind as a potential target in part because of how well he came off at the time – both as a player and a person.
“We met with him a while back, and he’s pretty impressive,” Curtin said. “He’s intelligent. He’s respectful. He’s a professional. So he checked all of the boxes for us.”
And of course, he’s the kind of gifted player that the team covets – a 6-foot-5 defender that’s a major presence in both boxes and can read the game well. Curtin pointed out that Vitoria, who was born in Canada to Portuguese parents before moving to Portugal, used to be an attacking midfielder, so “he has very good feet, is comfortable on the ball and can kind of the start the attack with his passing ability.
“He’s someone to build our backline around,” he added. “Also, he’s a known leader. He was the captain of Estoril. That goes a long way for us. We gave up too many goals last year, so hopefully he can come in and stabilize the backline and be a strong piece for us for a lot of years moving forward.”
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Because of his Canadian roots, Vitoria is also “familiar with the league,” according to Curtin, and should be able to enjoy a smooth transition to MLS. And perhaps the best part of all for the Union technical staff is that he opted to come to the Union when he had other opportunities in the past to play in MLS.
“I think he made it pretty clear he wanted to be in Philadelphia,” Albright said. “I think that’s a big part of it. I think that says something about the club that he chose us.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
