MLS Superdraft and Young DP

Two big areas to cover today.  First, tomorrow is the MLS Superdraft.  It kind of snuck up on us with the holidays and the lack of a combine this year.

The Rapids have the 11th pick in all four rounds, as well as the 9th pick in the fourth round (from the Azira trade).  I'm hearing that the Rapids are focusing on Jeremy Kelly, a DM/RB out of North Carolina with their first pick.  He would be good cover for Rosenberry and allow Anderson more time to mature into the role as well as providing extra flexibility in the midfield if needed.

The rest of the picks are unlikely to amount to anything given the track history of recent drafts.  There certainly could be a diamond in the rough out there but the odds are against it.  Likely we'll find some good players to stock the Switchbacks with and maybe in a couple of years we'll look back and see we found a solid MLS player.

On the Young Designated Player front, we seem to have our player, if reports out of Argentina are accurate.  We have apparently signed Brian Galvan from Athletico Colon, a 19 year old midfielder.  The situation seems to be that Galvan is out of contract in June.  Players are allowed to sign future contracts once they're within 6 months of the end of their current contract.  Colon seems to have lost track of Galvan's contract status and allowed him to get into that 6 month window without locking him down for the future.  The Rapids apparently swooped in and got him signed before Colon realized their mistake.

Needless to say their fans are not pleased.  There is currently negotiations going on between the Rapids and Colon to buy him now and get him here in preseason instead of waiting for the summer transfer window.  It would be great to get him in now but that has to be balanced against how much its worth paying to get a young DP for the first half of the season when you know he;s showing up in July.

Galvan has only made 8 appearances for Colon in his career so far.  He suffered a knee injury 9 months or so ago that's kept him out but he's made 4 appearances in the last month and a half or so, according to Transfermarkt.  I expect that this is a move like Barco was for Atlanta, not expected to be an immediate impact but a long-term move.  Either he becomes a star for the Rapids or he becomes an asset we can sell on for more money than we paid for him.