Defiance close to securing loan for Lanús defender

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.

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.