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The Seattle Sounders have signed Andrés Correa, the Colombian left back who has been on trial with the team for the last few weeks, the team announced on Tuesday. Correa just turned 21 and most recently appeared for Fortaleza of the Colombian Primera A. He's also played for Independiente Medellín.
"We are pleased to welcome Andrés to Sounders FC," said Sounders General Manager and President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey in a team release. "He is a dynamic, exciting young player that we believe can compete for minutes on our backline as we head into a packed season across multiple competitions."
Correa has appeared in two preseason matches and had the assist on Marco Pappa's curler in the loss to the Galaxy last week. In an interview on Monday, Lagerwey described Correa's start as a good outing, and said the young player is "still working on his fitness, but getting up to speed."
In addition to his 17 Colombian first-division appearances, Correa has 10 caps with youth national teams. Most notably, he was on the Colombia U20 team that won the 2013 South American championships.
"Andrés is a very good young player with a tremendous upside," said Sounders FC Head Coach Sigi Schmid. "Although he's a young player, we believe he can be a contributor this year and we look forward to working with him throughout preseason camp."
The defender will compete for time at left back, a position the Sounders have been clear they are looking to shore up. Leo Gonzalez will turn 35 before the end of the upcoming season, and Dylan Remick, after a 2014 marked by injury, will also likely make his case for playing time over the course of the preseason.
We don't yet know much more about the left-footed player. He's listed at 5'9'' and 165 pounds, and is likely to be a more attacking option on the left side of defense.
Two more Sounders trialists have also been identified by the team, with Pablo Rossi and Giuliani Frano appearing on the preseason roster. Rossi is an attacking player from Argentina with a really awesome highlight reel, while Frano is more of a defensive-minded midfielder from Boston College.