Rapids Have Apparently Signed Winger Nicolas Benezet

There have been multiple reports today that the Rapids have signed 29 year old (next month) winger/attacking midfielder Nicolas Benezet.  The reports include Benezet himself retweeting the reports, so that's about as close to confirmation as you can get before its official.

Nicolas Benezet plays for EA Guingamp in France's Ligue 2 but spent the last 6 months on loan to Toronto, where he scored a number of critical goals in their MLS Cup campaign.  He was hopeful of moving full-time to TFC but the automatic buy clause in his loan was triggered after 6 regular season starts, and after his 5th start he came off the bench for the last 3 games of the season before starting all of TFC's playoff games.  Draw your own conclusions.

The rumored cost for Benezet is $500K to EA Guingamp and Benezet is expected to make around $600K.  This will make him a TAM player, not a DP.  We will also be sending $50K of GAM to Toronto to his rights, plus up to another $50K of GAM if he hits certain incentives.

This is a really solid deal for the Rapids, who apparently beat out Vancouver, Cincinnati, and Fake Salt Lake for his signature.  I expect on opening day that our starting wingers will now be Benezet and Lewis with Nicholson and Shinyashiki as subs (and maybe Galvan if that rumor is accurate).  This will generate a high amount of competition in training camp and week to week in training between those four players for starting roles and minutes, which will help the young players.

I expect this puts an end to our chase of Ligue 2 winger Jimmy Cabot.  The rumor was that we could get him on a free in the summer and Lorient didn't want to sell him, seeing him as too critical to their championship push.  With four wingers already and a possible fifth in Galvan, I can't see us signing a DP winger now.

This could be a busy week for the Rapids, with talk of Namli and Galvan growing stronger and players reporting to Commerce City next Saturday for physicals before flying off to camp in California a week from tomorrow.  I expect at least two of these three names to be announced by then, and possibly all three.  Should they be signed I'd guess we have the vast majority of our 2020 roster set, with only a little playing around the edges left.