Rumors: O'Neill Out, New Striker In

Game recap coming sometime in the next 48 hours but two rumors floating around the Dick last night.

First, its all but confirmed that Shane O'Neill was sold this week.  multiple tweets from friends of his and other connected sources have reported it.  It appears that Cyprus' Apollon Limassol is the most likely destination but Cyprus' APOEL and Denmark have also been part of the rumors.  APOEL is the big fish of football in Cyprus, regularly playing in the Champions League.  Apollon Limassol is one of the better teams, finishing high enough to be in the Europa League 4 of the last 6 seasons.

This is hardly a shock though it is disappointing.  O'Neill was being wasted on our bench and regardless of the reason we should have found a way to get the 3rd best player from the Toulon Tournament more playing time this season.  At least we'll make some money on the transaction and he won't leave for nothing.  We don't need to replace him as a CB right away, but it will be hard to replace the benefits we got from him as a Homegrown Player.

The other rumor is that the Rapids have signed an unnamed striker that hasn't been announced due to visa issues.  Yeah, like we haven't heard that one before.  This might be the rumored "big" move from a couple of weeks ago but you have to wonder how big of a move it can be at a position where Doyle, Solignac, Torres, Sanchez, and Eloundou are already fighting for playing time.  Also if the player has visa issues that means he's an international and we don't have an open international spot open.  We don't even have an open roster spot but O'Neill leaving would solve that.  We could open up an international (and roster) spot by removing the recall option on Badji's loan to Charlotte and leaving him there for the rest of the season.

Whatever occurs with either of these rumors it has to happen by Thursday as that's when the transfer window closes.