The Tacoma Defiance are close to finalizing a loan with a purchase option for one of Pedro de la Vega’s former teammates at Lanús, Sounder at Heart has confirmed. Brian Aguilar is a 20-year-old defender who has 14 first-team appearances since making his debut in 2021, while also collecting eight caps for the Argentina U20 team. Nicolás Gomez Cortes was the first to report the move.
▪️Brian Aguilar se iría a préstamo sin cargo y con opción al #SeattleSounders 🇺🇲 de Pedro De La Vega. Importante: iría al segundo equipo aunque entrenaria con el plantel profesional.
— Nicolas Gomez Cortes (@Ngomezcortes) February 15, 2024
▪️Continúan las negociaciones por Franco Orozco entre Lanus y el Krylia Sovétov 🇷🇺. pic.twitter.com/n7y3mqf0xK
While the Sounders have used loans to sort of sample players for Defiance previously, none of them had first-team experience in a league like Liga Profesional or with a U20 national team as highly regarded as Argentina's.
Although Aguilar has mostly played as a right back, the Sounders apparently see him as a centerback, where he has also played off and on. Interestingly, his last U20 appearance was against the United States in a 2022 friendly where he scored while playing as a centerback. Aguilar is not very big – he is reportedly about 5-foot-10 and 168 pounds – but is a good passer and could potentially be a nice compliment to bigger centerbacks like Stuart Hawkins or Gallatin Sandnes.
