Trusty Off To London (Eventually) But Is Anyone Coming To Commerce City?

Big news today as the quiet murmurs about a possible move to Europe for Auston Trusty come true in a big way with the announcement that on the transfer deadline day for most European leagues he had been bought by Arsenal!  As part of the deal he will be loaned back to Colorado until the summer transfer window, specifically July 17th.  Trusty does not qualify for an English work permit so in their announcement Arsenal stated that the plan for the 2022-23 season is to loan him to a team in Europe.

Arsenal is clearly looking at Trusty as a player who's on the edge of the U.S. Nats at 23 years old and see the potential for him to move into the team after the World Cup and qualify for a work permit in a couple of years, with the risk being low if he doesn't make it.  Notably the transfer fee was not part of the announcements, unlike most other moves out of MLS this window, which leads me to believe the up-front number is fairly low and it may have a number of long-term clauses in it.  Or it could be that since this was an internal-KSE move (Kroenke owning both teams) they didn't want to get into the accounting machinations they're putting the deal through to move money from Column A to Column B.

There are already numerous fans of Arsenal and just generally anti-MLS who are claiming this is Kroenke just :"laundering money" or getting around various cap rules, or otherwise dismissing Trusty as anything but an easy way to move resources around and he'll never play for Arsenal.  That's largely example of "fans" not actually looking at Trusty for what he is.  There's no guarantee he'll ever get a work permit and play for Arsenal, but the potential is there.  He could make that move by 26 (3 years).

This move also dovetails nicely into what I was planning to write about tonight, namely that by running in place the Rapids have actually moved backwards this offseason, and its disappointing.  So far the Rapids have moved 3 significant pieces of the 2021 team and brought in 3 new players:

• Cole Bassett Out, Max In
• Kellyn Acosta Out, Bryan Acosta In
• Auston Trusty Out (eventually), Aboubacar Keita In

Roughly three like-for-like transactions.  You could argue that overall Bassett/Acosta/Trusty is a better group of players than Max/Acosta/Keita.  I think at best you argue we've stood pat so far.  To be clear, I'm not expecting anything from our draft picks in 2022.

This at the same time teams like Dallas, Houston, and FSL are spending millions of dollars on transfer fees that should improve the squad.  The rest of the West is in an arms race of spending this offseason and the Rapids are on the sideline apparently not engaging.  In his press conference a couple of weeks ago Padraig Smith said they were pursing options at striker, something reinforced by reporting from other channels, but so far not a single name has been linked to the club and quite frankly, we are running out of time.  Now, with Trusty leaving in the summer, we need to also sign a CB to replace him.  The tweet from the Rapids Communication Director in response to Joseph Samelson calling this out today that there's a secondary window isn't exactly reassuring given the CCL starts in 16 days.

The facts are that Bryan Acosta is out with a positive COVID test, Max is still in Brazil, and Keita is...somewhere.  Which means no new players who are expected to contribute in 2022 will be getting minutes tomorrow, and likely not getting minutes on Saturday.  So at best we'll have the closed-door scrimmage in Orlando for those three, plus any striker signing, to figure out how to play with this team before we face a competitive match.  For a club that has talked the talk, again, about taking the CCL seriously this appears to be a failure to walk the walk, again.

4 years ago the Rapids met one of their big striker signings, Joe Mason, on the tarmac in Boston en route to their season opener against New England.  A move that has been acknowledged as a mistake by the FO in how they handled the offseason that year.  That was the same year they made a panic move in signing Yannick Boli after not being able to get deals done earlier in the offseason.  The FO learned from that mistake and the last couple of offseasons clearly had their ducks in a row and got everyone signed and in camp early.  Right now 2022 is feeling like 2018 again, where we're waiting to the last minute to make a major signing.  Hopefully we're not meeting our new striker for the first time on the ground in Guatemala City...

Old-Look Rapids Play To Scoreless Draw

Before yesterday's preseason scrimmage the Rapids finally released a camp roster.  The only unsigned players on it were our 3 draft picks and a handful of kids from the Academy.  No surprise trialists or anything.

Based on that, and my schedule yesterday, I decided not to watch the scrimmage.  Because the other things we know is that two of our three new signings weren't in camp.  Bryan Acosta is with the Honduran national Team (and was just ruled out of today's game with a positive COIVD test) and Max is still posting pictures from Brazil on Instagram.  Nobody knows why he's not in camp yet.  Aboubacar Keita has no reason to not be in camp, but he has yet to appear in any photos from camp.  So odds are 9t was going to be our 2021 Rapids getting warmed up for the season with some minutes sprinkled in for guys who will end up playing for Rapids 2 or on load this season, unless Keita got into the game.

Sure enough, the only players who got minutes yesterday that weren't on the 2021 roster were our three draftees, who all got 28 minutes.  So, I don't think I missed much.  The big talking point from the game was a run-in between Lucas Esteves and Khiry Shelton.  On a free kick there was some jostling between the two of them and Esteves came up complaining that he had gotten hit in the jaw.  He then spit and this is where the stories diverge.  SKC captain Johnny Russell made the claim after the game that Esteves spit blood at Shelton.  The Rapids released a statement last night that Esteves said he spit blood on the ground as a way of showing the ref there must have been contact due to the fact that he was bleeding.  Colorado's statement says they've reviewed the footage and found nothing to show that Esteves is lying.  Notably all of this happened "off-camera" from the live stream so we as fans only have what Russell and the Rapids are saying to go on.  All that can be seen is Russell reacting to something that leads to him and Esteves getting into a heated argument.

Obviously if Esteves spit blood at Shelton that is inexcusable and is grounds for at minimum a large fine and suspension, and possibly for termination of his loan from Palmeiras.  If he just spit on the ground though and Shelton or Russell interpreted it otherwise then that's something different.  Things have been quiet since the Rapids' statement last night, so I tend to think that this was a misunderstanding more than anything, but it should make the matches against SKC this season interesting.

Our next match is a closed door game against Seattle on Tuesday.  No stream, so we'll have to rely on whatever reports the teams provide.

First Scrimmage Tomorrow and Welcome Back Mezquida

Tomorrow (Saturday) we get our first chance to look at the Rapids, though not a real chance to look at any new Rapids.  Their first game in the Desert Showcase against SKC is tomorrow at 4pm and will be available on the Rapids website.  It will be geolocked to Altitudes broadcast region however, so if you live outside the mountain states, good luck.  This is a stupid policy that most MLS teams instutied a few years ago and needs to go away.  Three of the four preseasons matches will be streamed this way, next Saturday's in Tucson match will be streamed and geolocked to Altitude, and then the closed-door match with Orlando on the 11th will be streamed by Orlando and geolocked to Central Florida.  The Rapids also have a closed-door match on the 1st but that will not be streamed.

Of course we don't know who we're going to see tomorrow, because the Rapids have gone radio silent since they entered preseason.  The amount of information the team gives out has always been somewhat random, some years being more open than others, but this is the quietest I've ever seen it.  We don't even have a preseason roster of who's in camp.  Fans and media, particularly Joseph Samuelson, have done a good job piecing things together from the few photos that are out there.  What we know is that two of our big "new" signings will not be part of the team tomorrow.  Bryan Acosta is with the Honduran National Team and for some reason Max has yet to leave Brazil, based on his social media posts.  Presumably Keita is in camp though nobody has confirmed that.  Both our draft picks will be available as they've been seen in training photos.

Of course there's still a large hole at #9, since we still haven't made the signing we're all waiting for.  I'll have more about this next week, but we're approaching too little too late time on that signing when it comes to the CCL, which knocks a hole into the way the team has been talking about taking it more seriously this year.

On a brighter note, Colorado announced they re-signed Nicholas Mezquida today.  Its a one year deal with a second team option year and the deal is structured so that Mezquida will be added to the supplemental roster and thus won't count against the cap.  There's also an unofficial report that Mezquida has received his green card and won't count as an international, something I was told last year would be likely by now.  Assuming that's true being able to re-sign him as a supplemental domestic player makes this a no brainer.  He's reportedly great in the locker room and has the right skills to be a solid sub off the bench.  Last year's $300K+ against the cap was a bit much for an international sub, but two big changes makes him a valuable retention going into a year where we'll need depth.

I'll be back later this weekend with a recap of tomorrow's friendly.

Good luck to Cole Bassett!

Today the Rapids and Feyenoord made official what had previously leaked, Cole Bassett has moved to Europe.  He's going on an 18-month loan with an option to buy.  As part of the deal Bassett has signed an contract extension through 2024 with Colorado, so if at the end of the 2022-23 Dutch season Feyenoord decides they don't want to keep him he'll come back to Colorado.  There is a fee for the load being paid to Colorado, and the buy option in the loan includes a sell-on clause for the Rapids to get part of any transfer fee Feyenoord would negotiate if they sold him.

We've known for a while that Bassett had his eye on Europe, and this was really a best case scenario for both him and the club.  The negotiated fee + the loan fee is reportedly bigger than the $2 million Antwerp paid for Vines, and Cole gets to test himself in Europe with an 18 month period to prove he belongs.  I wish him nothing but luck!

For fans wanting to track how Cole is doing, the Dutch Eredivisie is available on ESPN+.  It appears most games are at 4am MT on Sundays.  This Sunday ESPN+ will be showing the Feyenoord game but I assume that's going to be too soon for Bassett to make an appearance.  After this week the team has two weeks off for World Cup qualifiers, and ESPN hasn't posted the February schedule of games they'll be showing yet.

Also, unlike Sam Vines at Royal Antwerp, Feyenoord's official team shop does ship to the U.S. and already has Bassett as an option for customized name and number on a jersey.  On the down side though, the jersey, name, number, and shipping will set you back about $160.

Speaking of Sam Vines, Cole had a friend show up to help him settle in to his new home:

Credit: Richard Fleming on Twitter

Rotterdam (where Feyenoord is) and Antwerp are about 100km apart, or about a 30 minute train ride.  So I wouldn't be surprised if we get more pictures of these two while they're so close together.

You Get A New Contract! Any You Get A New Contract! And You Get A New Contract!

A busy day in Commerce City as Padraig Smith was handing out contracts like he was Oprah.  4 existing Rapids got contract extensions and we welcomed new signing Bryan Acosta.  Starting with the extensions:

• Defender Keegan Rosenberry got an extension through the 2024 season, with a team option for 2025
• Midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye got an extension through 2025 with an team option for 2026
• Defender Danny Wilson got an extension through 2023 with team options for 2024 and 2025
• Midfielder and team captain Jack Price got an extension through 2023 with team options for 2024 and 2025

Those last two were originally announced, erroneously, as extensions through 2024 with options for the next two seasons.

These are all great moves for the club, locking up the core of the team for the next 4 seasons.  And with the option years there's flexibility at the end as well.  There was some scuttlebutt that Jack Price might want to go home, but that seems to have been more wishful thinking from some MLSSoccer.com commentators than anything real.

The addition of Bryan Acosta today was probably the big news.  He's on a two-year deal with a team option for 2024.  When he was signed with Dallas he was signed as a DP, but that was due to his transfer fee, so with Colorado he won't fill one of those slots.  His contract last year was for $650K, and the Rapids could have selected him in the first round of the Re-Entry Draft, which would have brought him here on his Dallas contract's option number.  The fact that we didn't do that suggests to me that we only wanted to sign him at a lower number, so he won't be a max salary player this year, though I'm sure he'll be a high earner.

Bryan Acosta is a 28 year old Honduran midfielder.  He's more attack-minded than Kellyn was, and he's particularly skilled at distribution and playing the ball into dangerous spaces.  He does have a very bad habit of taking shots from 35 yards out that end up 35 feet over the goal though.  He also doesn't have the defensive skills of Kellyn, which has me concerned that our midfield will lack the ability to stop players playing through it, resulting in a lot of pressure on our back line.

Acosta is a fairly regular player for the Honduran National Team.  We'll likely see him miss time in late March for the final round of World Cup qualifiers, but barring a miracle turn-around Honduras is not going to qualify (they are in last place, 11 points out of the playoff spot with 6 games left) so that's all the time he should really miss.  While Honduras may play some friendlies over the rest of 2022 I can see the Rapids being somewhat resistant to letting him go outside of any required windows.  This is different from Kaye (or Kellyn) in that there are good chances their teams qualify for Qatar and they'll be needed for warm-ups over the year.

A very busy day of business from Colorado today, and one that largely set the midfield for the next couple of years.  In a Q&A this afternoon Smith talked about the team actively pursuing a #9 signing in this window, so I think that's the last major piece before the season starts.

Three Core Rapids Head For New Homes

It has been quite a day for the Rapids fanbase.  Three Rapids who have been at the center of this team's growth in recent years have left, for three different reasons.  We're going to go through these in reverse order to immediate impact (and announcement), mainly because its easier for me to deal with that way.

First, Sporting KC announced the signing of free agent Kortne Ford today.  As we're all well aware, Ford signed for the first team out of the Academy in 2017 and looked like a rising star that would be the first real successful homegrown player.  Then a series of knee injuries kept him from making an appearance for the Rapids since 2018.  Each time he got close to healthy further injury knocked him back.  He di finally get back on the field this year for San Antonio and preformed well.  On top of that there was his mother's fight against cancer that the Rapids community followed for many years.  Sadly, as we know, we lost Mamma Ford recently,

Given all that, its not a surprise that Kort would want a fresh start somewhere else, and he is originally from the KC era.  Everyone in the Rapids fan base wishes him the best and hopes for nothing but success for him (outside of head to head games against us, of course).  Kort was the last Rapid on the roster from Pablo's final 2017 team, though of course Drew Moor and Clint Irwin played for and with Pablo for many years.

The second move today is Cole Bassett going on loan to Dutch giants Feyenoord.  This hasn't been officially announced but Cole has left U.S. Nats camp, reportedly to return to Denver to prepare to head to the Netherlands next week, and Dutch papers have gotten quotes from the Feyenoord manager about Bassett's arrival.  So its a done deal, it just hasn't been announced.  This is an 18-month loan with an option to buy.  Bassett only has 12 months left on his contract, so the other part of this news is that he has signed a 3 year extension to his contract, though its unclear if that's 3 years from now, or 3 years from the end of his deal at the end of this season.  Hopefully the official announcement will clarify that.

Feyenoord currently site 3rd in the table, 3 points back of Ajax and 4 back of PSV, so Cole will be right in a fight for the top spot.  Also next month the Rotterdam derby will happen, which could feature Cole Bassett against Sparta Rotterdam's Younes Namli.

This is clearly a good deal for everyone involved.  Bassett has been very clear about his desire to move to Europe, but while there's been a lot of smoke the only confirmed offer we got was the Benfica offer this summer, which wasn't a good move for him.  This allows him a chance to really earn a place on a significant European team, and meanwhile the Rapids get a contract extension that seemed unlikely a while ago.  If it works out they sell him for (reportedly) a number higher than Vines.  If not he comes back home and we have a great asset to play or possibly sell to another team.

Now the big one.  Colorado traded Kellyn Acosta to LAFC for $1.1M in GAM, plus up to $400K more depending on performance, at least $150K of which both sides expect to achieve.  The rest of it requires LAFC to win a trophy by the end of 2023.  So we'll call it $1.25M of GAM for this analysis.

This is obviously a ground-shaking move for the core of the current Rapids.  Acosta was the first significant addition by Padraig Smith when he was given full control of the team, and he's been in the center (literally) of the team since then.  I think all Rapids fans had a moment of WTF? when they heard the news this morning.

Once the initial shock wore off though, the move made more sense.  Colorado entered the day with Jack Price and 3 central midfielders that cost the team a million a piece in different ways (Acosta, salary, Kaye, GAM, Max, transfer fee).  Its very hard to get all 4 of those players on the field at once, not to mention our wingers.  The only way I could see to do it is to play Acosta at left wing with the other 3 in the middle, and that means putting Esteves of Galvan on the bench.  So we had room to move somebody.

An offer of $1.1M guaranteed GAM is the second largest in MLS history.  Those offers don't come around often.  This is because Acosta is probably at the height of his value right now.  Coming off a season where he set a record for U.S. Nats appearances in year for a player with a club contract (he tied the record, but the record was sent when the Nats had a year+ long residency in preparation for the '94 World Cup and those players weren't signed to a club) and having played for the best team in the West, combined with being 26.5 years old, means this was the time to strike if we were going to move him.

Of course, after this news was announced, Kellyn himself got on Twitter to express disappointment in the club.  While he said all the right things in his follow-up, he accused the club of pushing him out and not taking the European offer on the table which is where he wanted to go.  In order to evaluate this claim we're going to have to get down into the nitty gritty of MLS rules.  So the tl;dr of this is that the odds that the Rapids had a European offer that was as good or better than the LAFC offer for the Rapids is very low.  You can skip beyond the bracketed section if you want to skip the MLS roster rule discussion.

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It does require one assumption, namely that at this point in their respective careers Vines is generally more valuable than Acosta. At 26.5 years old Acosta is largely who he is now, while players can improve from this point they usually don't take large jumps in quality. Meanwhile at 22 Vines still has a chance for significant improvement.

So, that assumption in place, lets look at what we know. 

1. Vines was sold for $2M 

2. Because of MLS roster rules, that limit the amount of transfer fee that can be converted to GAM for salary use, from a team-building (not owning) perspective GAM is more valuable than cash once you break $1M (the max cash you can convert to GAM from a sale). 

3. Acosta was traded for $1.1M in GAM that both sides feel is likely to go up to $1.25-$1.3M (per Sam Stejskal's Athletic article and something I've heard) 

So, in order for the Rapids to have pushed Acosta out and ignored a European offer, and for that to somehow been the wrong choice, the offer from Europe would have had to have been better than $1.25M in GAM. if we believe (and I do) that Acosta isn't as valuable as Vines, that means he likely tops out at around $1.75M, if I'm generous. So does it make sense for, in the best case scenario for Acosta, Padraig Smith to give up $250K in GAM to get $750K in cash that can't be used on the roster? At that number yeah, probably. But at anything less than the possible max for Acosta? Probably not. Trading $250K of salary for $500K or less in cash doesn't help build the team, and of course anything under $1.25M in cash is less than the GAM.

So while its possible that the Rapids had a real offer for Acosta that we passed on, and while its possible for that offer to be higher than the GAM, and its possible that its enough higher than the GAM for it to be a good deal for the Rapids, the odds seem very very low. Or I'm significantly undervaluing Acosta.

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In the end moving Acosta frees up significant salary, gains us GAM, and means we don't have to use xAM to pay him down to the max salary level.  In exchange while we lose a notable part of our midfield, its an area where we already have a replacement.  In the end its a logical move, even when at first it seems like its completely out of left field.

Needless to say this is a huge day for the Rapids, and have significantly changed the makeup of the team going into 2022.  With Bassett and Acosta gone our midfield will be a new group working together this year.  We have also put together a nice nest egg of GAM that I would expect to see us use soon to replace some of the missing players, and hopefully find a #9.  I expect the next two weeks will be quite busy.

Rapids Add 3 Players and $125K In GAM

As expected, the Rapids did not stand pat on draft day.  However, as I did not predict, we did pass on our last two picks.  I expected us to use them all to help stock Rapids 2, but there was some talk today that drafting players did not mean you had rights to sign them to a MLS NEXT contract so that may have played into it.

Back to our actual picks though.  Not surprisingly the Rapids made a trade with their first pick (#10 overall), sending it to Nashville in return for $125K in GAM and their first round pick (#26).  Getting over $100K for the #10 pick is a solid move by Padraig Smith and depending on how well Nashville's pick does there is $50K in conditional GAM that may also come our way.

That was our only move of the day, so with the #23 pick we chose defensive midfielder Mohamed Omar out of Notre Dame.  He's Canadian and spent time in TFC's system before going to college, so he may qualify as domestic under MLS's rule for academy players.  He appears to be a solid understudy for our crowded midfield and will likely get plenty of time with Rapids 2.

With the #26 pick Colorado took left-footed central defender Anthony Markanich out of the University of Northern Illinois.  He has a twin who was drafted by FC Cincinnati with the 2nd pick in the 2nd round.  Until then there was some hope among the fans that the Rapids might be able bring both of them in by choosing Anthony's brother in the second round.  Markanich will have a shot to provide youthful depth to the backline, who currently only has Moor and Edwards as reserves behind the big 3.

In the second round the Rapids took forward Roberto Molina, most recently with the USL Las Vegas Lights, with the 17th pick.  Under MLS rules he signed a contract with them that left him eligible for the MLS draft.  Before that he was in college at UC-Irvine.  Molina is Salvadoran and had 3 caps for the El Salvador National Team in 2021 against Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Chile.  He appeared 30 times for Las Vegas, netting 2 goals and 5 assists.  Because he would count as an international (I assume) he'll have a higher mountain to climb to make the team.

After that we passed with our last two picks.  I don't expect any of these 3 players to have an immediate impact in 2022 but there is the possibility they'll grow into contributing members of the team in future years.

Superdraft 2022!

Well the Superdraft is here.  Starting at 12:30 tomorrow there will be three rounds this year and all three will take place tomorrow.  This draft is said to be strong in keepers, central defenders and wingers and decent in strikers.  Its weaker in outside backs and defensive mids, and no Superdraft is ever strong in attacking mids.

The Rapids' pattern under Padraig Smith has been to target one player in the draft and the make moves to acquire them, and basically ignore the rest of our picks.  I think you'll see a change in that strategy this year, because we're going to have Rapids 2 next season and we'll want to stock it well enough to serve its purpose.  With two first round picks tomorrow I can see us packaging them together to move into position, but we'll use the rest of our picks on players we will hope can make Rapids 2.

We have 5 picks in total:

1st Round, pick 10 - From LAFC in the Kaye trade

1st Round, pick 23 - Natural pick for 2022 finish

2nd round, pick 17 - From Minnesota in the Kamara trade

2nd round, pick 23 - Natural pick for 2022 finish

3rd round, pick 23 - Natural pick for 2022 finish

If possible tomorrow I'll update as we make our picks  Regardless I'll have a recap tomorrow night.

Re-Signings and Preseason

As expected there was a bit of news in the last 24 hours.  First we announced two returning players.  both Drew Moor and Steven Beitashour signed new 1 year deals with 1 year team options.  While I'm a little surprised by the latter, thinking retirement was likely, its good to have the veteran leadership of both of them back.  Personally they could have given Moor a 5 year contract and I would have been ok with it.  He's a club legend and will go into the Gallery of Honor when he retires.  If he wants to keep getting paid to be an extra coach in the locker room and our closer for 1 goal wins, I'm fine with that for however long he wants to do it.

Of the 6 players that the Rapids were negotiating with from last season, we have signed the two above.  Badji decided to sign for Cincinnati (for a rumored large number), and Mezquida is reportedly talking with San Jose.  That leaves Jeremy Kelly and Kort Ford.  There's been no work about Kelly at all, though I  don't think he'll play a major role one way or the other in 2022.

There's also been no word about Ford, but that's understandable given the passing of his mother.  I'm sure he's had other things to focus on.  The memorial for Mamma Ford is today at Greely Central High School, in fact it starts at the top of the hour (11am).  I'm currently in isolation due to COVID so I won't be attending but it is open to everyone.

The other news today is that the Rapids released their preseason schedule because, surprise, training camp starts Monday!  Players will have physicals the first day with the first training session on Tuesday.  The club will train in Commerce City for a week and then head to Arizona.  They'll play 3 matches down there, including two in the Desert Showcase, then leave for Orlando on Feb. 9th.  While there they'll play a closed-door friendly with Orlando City and train before going to Guatemala City for their Champion's League match.

So yeah, very quick offseason for Colorado this year.  Only 46 days from their playoff loss to the opening of training camp.  Once we have an idea of who's in camp I'll start my annual camp roster tracker.  And of course, we still have the Superdraft coming on Tuesday.

Full preseason schedule:

• Jan. 29 – Sporting Kansas City vs. Colorado Rapids (Desert Showcase match | Tickets)
• Feb. 1 – Colorado Rapids vs. Seattle Sounders FC (closed-door friendly)
• Feb. 5 – Colorado Rapids vs. Houston Dynamo FC (Desert Showcase match | Tickets)
• Feb. 11 – Orlando City SC vs. Colorado Rapids (closed-door friendly)

Offseason's First Big International Signing

2 days, 2 player moves.  Today the Rapids announced the acquisition of Brazilian attacking mid Max Alves da Silva (who, like my Dad, goes by Max) from Brazilian side Flamengo.  He's 20 years old and signed with Flamingo from their youth side last year.  Max appeared 12 times for the club before being loaned to fellow Brazilian side Cuiaba where he made 15 appearances.

The big news here is the length of contract and money reportedly spent.  The deal is for the next 4 seasons with a club option for a 5th year.  According to various sources the Rapids spent $750K on his transfer fee, with another $250K on top of that depending on performance.  That puts Max up there with the likes of Gashi, Namli, and Ramirez.  Three names you don't really want to be associated with...

Given his age Max qualifies for the U22 initiative, much like Esteves (and Vines).  That means despite his price he'll only hit the cap at $150K and won't be a Designated Player.  So this doesn't really tie our hands too much, at least this year.

This is the first big deal for this length of time that we've seen this Front Office make for an "unproven in MLS" player.  Its even more unusual considering Max only has 27 appearances in his senior career.  The Rapids' scouts must have seen something to make them believe that Max will develop into a major MLS player or,, more likely, into an asset that will be able to be sold for a significant number.

My first instinct was that there's a lot of money tied up in our midfield.  Kellyn Acosta has a million dollar salary.  Mark-Anthony Kaye cost us a million dollars in GAM to acquire.  And now Max cost us (up to) a million dollar transfer fee.  Hard to get all 3 million on the field and Jack Price at the same time.  To say nothing of Bassett (if he's still here), Barrios, Galvan, etc.

But then I realized that I was looking at Max as an immediate contributor.  After further thought I think that's the wrong take.  We signed him for up to 5 years and he's 20 years old.  I think this is a long-term play, with anything we get out of him this season as a bonus.  That's not say that I expect him to spend the season with Rapids 2 but that I would be surprised if he started a majority of our games in 2022.  Right now we should look at this as a depth signing with significant upside.  Now if Acosta or Kaye are suddenly sold, we have somebody who should be expected to take over their role.

I don't know if we'll have any news tomorrow going into the weekend.  Assuming not then by Monday night I'll have my Superdraft preview up (as of right now the Rapids have 5 picks).  After that things will really start to pick up speed as we're only 42 days away from the season kickoff in Guatemala City!  (Assuming COVID doesn't throw us a curveball)

Rapids Acquire Aboubacar Keita From Crew

Today Colorado made their first official new acquisition of the offseason.  They traded 300K of GAM, plus up to 150K more in GAM based on performance metrics, to Columbus for homegrown center back Aboubacar Keita.  He's a 21 year old U.S. youth international, who played every game at the 2019 U-20 World Cup for the U.S.  He's been on the Crew's roster for 3 seasons, getting 28 starts and 10 sub appearances in that time, but his lack of use last year when the Crew were looking to fill a hole in the center of defense made it clear he needed a change of scenery.

Keita joins Trusty, Abubakar, and Rosenberry as defenders who joined the Rapids hoping to jump-start their careers.  It worked for the later 3, and there's no reason to think it can't work for Aboubacar.  The knock on him early is that he is solid defensively but struggles with distribution.  That is certainly something that can be coached, especially by a head coach that was a all-MLS defender.

We've seen the FO move for players like this the year before they're really expected to contribute.  Certainly Trusty went through that pattern.  So this might just be getting the pieces in place for future moves, but this also might be an indicator that there's a move coming this offseason or in the summer.  There's been a lot of talk about interest in Trusty from Europe so if something happens that would be my expected move.

Somehow the Rapids have ended up with two Abubakar/Aboubacar's on the team (its apparently pronounced the same way).  My prediction is that our newest Aboubacar will replaced Rwatubyaye on my All-African XI team by the send of the season.  Keita was born and raised in the U.S. but also holds Guinean citizenship. 

Rapids African XI

A week from today, on the 9th, the African Cup of Nations starts.  This is Africa's equivalent to the Gold Cup or Euros.  It will be shown in the U.S. on beIn Sports which, sadly, I don't get.  Inspired by a tweet by the Nottingham Forest supporters account I decided to create a Best XI of players who played for Colorado and were eligible to play for an African nation to celebrate the tournament.

I found 32 players who have been signed by the Rapids and who appear to have eligibility for an African nation.  I'm sure I missed a couple though, but I think I got the big names.  I'm basing this "best XI" largely on how they played in Colorado, not their overall careers.  I may also cheat a bit on positioning, especially central vs. outside players.  Due to the players available a 3-4-3 formation makes the most sense:

GK: Bouna Coundoul (Senegal) - An easy choice because he's the only African keeper to have played for the Rapids.  But certainly not an undeserved choice as he was the clear number 1 for a time here in Colorado.  Bouna played in multiple Cup of Nations tournaments for Senegal.

D: Ugo Ihemelu (Nigeria) - Ugo was a solid defender for the Rapids from 2007-2009 before being traded for Drew Moor.  Ihemelu played for the U.S. but was born in Nigeria and would presumably have been eligible to play for the Super Eagles.

D: Lalas Abubakar (Ghana) - Currently locking down the back line in Commerce City, Lalas has been called up to represent Ghana at the U-20 level before starting his MLS career.

D; Abdul Rwatubyaye (Rwanda) - Abdul never got an appearance in a Rapids uniform, but did play regularly on loan to the Springs over two seasons, which is the best career for any other defender who was eligible for an African nation.  Rwatubyaye has 25 caps for Rwanda

M: Sanna Nyassi (Gambia) - Nyassi was only in Colorado for 1 season, but made 26 appearances and scored 5 goals, including a hat-trick against RBNY.  Nyassi has been capped 14 times for Gambia.

M: Alain N'Kong (Cameroon) - A personal favorite of mine, N'Kong was only here for a season+ but showed his skill and flair in that time.  33 appearance in 2005 and 2006, with 5 goals.  He scored the winning goal in the 2008 African Cup of Nations semifinal with a assist from the great Samuel Eto'o, defeating Ghana 1-0.  On the field for Ghana in that game was another player on this Bext XI, Junior Agogo.  N'Kong started the final which Cameroon lost to Egypt by the same scoreline.

M: Micheal Azira (Uganda) - Azira was a fan favorite during his time in Colorado, the team he's appeared most for so far in his long career.  Over 2.5 seasons he played in 66 matches before being traded ton Montreal.  Michael just recently retired from his international play with Uganda.  He was on their roster for the 2017 African Cup of Nations while playing with Colorado, starting their first match and appearing in their 3rd (I believe he may be the only active Rapid to have played in a Cup of Nations as Coundoul was only the backup keeper in 2008).

M: Mehdi Ballouchy (Morocco) - A possible surprise listing as he was never a fan favorite and quite often frustrated us with his play, but its hard to deny he was an integral part of the team for a couple of years.  Mehdi made 77 appearances for Colorado before being traded for another person on this team, Macoumba Kandi, in 2010.  Ballouchy represented Morocco at the U17 and U20 levels.

F: Junior Agogo (Ghana) - Our first repeat country on the list, with both Abubakar and Agogo.  The late Junior Agogo was an early star for the Rapids, appearing 32 times and scoring 11 goals over the 2000 and 2001 seasons.  Agogo was capped 27 times for Ghana, scoring 12 times, and appearing in the aforementioned 2008 African Cup of Nations where he scored the winning goal in their group stage game against Namibia, and the wining goal in the quarter-final against Nigeria.  After being beaten by N'Kong's goal in the semi-final, Junior scored in the 3rd place game en route to a 4-2 win.

F: Kei Kamara (Sierra Leone) - Everyone reading this is probably familiar with Kamara's work in Colorado in 2019 and 2020.  Our best scorer in almost a decade, putting up 11 goals in 2019.  Kei has had a very on-again/off-again relationship with the Sierra Leone national team, appearing 34 times.  Most recently he scored the winning goal for the Leone Stars against Benin, which qualified them for this month's Cup of Nations, their first since 1996.  He's on their roster for the tournament.

F: Dominique Badji (Senegal) - Our other duplicate nation as Badji joins Coundoul in being able to represent Senegal.  Badji has appeared 103 times for the Rapids so far, with 29 goals to show for it.  Despite being always a bit of a second choice by the fans he's quickly climbing up the all-time record lists for the team.  He has never represented Senegal in national team play.

That's the XI but I wanted to add one honorable mention:

F: Macoumba Kandji (Senegal)  - Everyone knows why Kandji is a Rapids legend, sacrificing his ACL to score the winning goal in MLS Cup 2010.  Mac has never been called up for the Senegalese national team.

I was also going to do a Best XI with eleven different nations represented, but the best XI already has nine.  So it only requires two changes.

Remove Agogo and replace him with:

F; Yannick Boli (Cote d'Ivoire) - Yes, one of the least liked international signings in recent years.  His `7 appearances and 2 goals is still the best Rapids record of players who are eligible for an African nation not already used in the other 10 spots.  Boli has never represented Cote d'Ivoire at any level.

Remove Badji and replace him with:

F: Shawn Bartlett (South Africa) - Bartlett was an inaugural member of the Rapids, making 36 appearances in the first 1.5 seasons in his first career experience outside South Africa.  He would go on to become a regular for Charlton Athletic in the EPL in the early 2000's.  South Africa hosted the '96 Cup of Nations and Bartlett was on the roster, but hand not yet joined the newly forming Rapids.  Overall Shawn finished his international career as the second-highest all-time scorer for South Africa behind Blackburn Rovers great Benni McCarthy.