By BRIAN LEWIS

Juan Carlos Osorio, on the hunt for a new forward to pair with Juan Pablo Angel, is back from his scouting mission. He went to Costa Rica and saw all three of his foreign targets play live, and has given his seal of approval to two of them. Now comes the hard part; coming to terms with either and then agreeing a transfer fee.

“I saw some good football, saw some good players, I brought a couple names back and we’ll put it in that short list we have for our next player and hopefully we can bring one back,’’ Osorio said. “I think one of them is good but he’s not the type of player we’re looking for and the other two are the names I brought back.

“They fill the same role – quick, strong, like to run in behind (defenses) and provide us with a different threat than what we have now.’’ The threat of a speedy, athletic target who can get behind defenses and stretch the field for Angel. In short, what Jozy Altidore was before he got sold, what Oscar Echeverry could’ve been if he hadn’t gotten hurt, and what George Welcome might’ve been if the Red Bulls could’ve gotten his discovery rights from New England.

“Like with Jorge (Rojas) and Gabriel (Cichero) I spoke to them contacted them told them what kind of club they’re coming to, what kind of football we want to play, what kind of league it is, and they showed an interest in coming. After that we deal with the clubs,’’ Osorio said. “I told the players, and for the most part most players in Central and South America think in a positive way about MLS.’’

Osorio sounded like he thought they could agree to terms with the players, but said the Red Bulls were still “pretty far’’ apart on a transfer fee. He also said he watched extensive video of players from the Honduran league while he was there; and added that the two MLS-based forwards he’d been considering are still very much on his radar.

“As you know, it still always comes down to money,’’ he said. And that was part of the reason for the Zach Thornton trade.

Granted, the 34-year-old pushed for the move, coming into Osorio’s office and requesting to be dealt where he could play. And Osorio saw a chance to 1) open a spot for 23-year-old Danny Cepero, who had a 0.87 GAA out on loan at Harrisburg, and 2) get some money to be used in his search for a striker

So he did get some coin, but he doesn’t plan to revisit the idea of getting Welcome’s discovery rights from New England. It has nothing to do with value; apparently the Lider Marmol situation left a bad taste in his mouth, and it’s more of a philosophical issue about paying a team for a player that isn’t theirs.

Neither of those foreign targets are on the Red Bulls’ discovery list _ they can hold ten players on the list _ but more important, they aren’t on anybody else’s either.

“That’s the criteria now. Anybody who is on somebody else’s discovery list, he can’t be (a target),’’ said Osorio. But all ten players on their list fill a need.

“At this particular time, the guys that are on our discovery list are mainly a) the positions that we need right now and b) players that we think in the future might be interested in here depending on the players that are running out of contract. But I’m learning there are other clubs in the MLS that seem to put people on the discovery list guessing what other teams would like to have in the future.”