What Can Brown Do For Valerenga?

The Rapids made it official today and transferred Deshorn Brown to Norway's Valerenga.  A Norwegian paper says that the transfer fee was $4 million, presumably Norwegian Krone, which would convert to just under $500,000.

Overall this is the move the Rapids should have made.  An offer in hand is hard to turn down, though anything lower and the decision would have been questionable.  That doesn't mean we've improved though.  As I put it in my season preview:

Forward: Um, yeah, nothing much happened here.  We signed Badji!  Otherwise we're apparently hoping that what we have can get us enough goals until a move can be made.  At this point I think the assumption is that Kevin Doyle will be joining the team but the question is when.  If we have to wait for the July transfer window then Brown, Torres, and Badji are going to have to figure out how to score without a holding forward.  If somehow we can get Doyle before the end of Wolves season then we can probably muddle through for a few games until he gets here.  If we don't make any move at all we're in trouble.

This was not the move I had in mind.  Our already thin options are now transparent.  Badji doesn't look like the answer so that leaves Torres moving to the top of the formation and Powers moving back to center mid.  Really what needs to happen sooner rather than later is bringing in a new MLS-caliber and ready to play yesterday striker.  Its a bit frustrating that we don't have that player yet.  This transfer didn't come out of nowhere.  A deal like this takes some time and the Rapids must have had some idea this was possible during preseason.  I'm inclined to think that's why Badji got so much time with the first team at the expense of Brown.  Based on that, why didn't we get a replacement lined up in preseason?

In the end we're going to struggle until either Torres finds his 2013 Gold Cup form or we make a move.  The sooner one of those happens the better.