Rapids Acquire Kévin Cabral from the Galaxy

Today Colorado made its first big move off the season, acquiring French winger and Designated Player Kévin Cabral from the LA Galaxy in exchange for $600K of GAM in 2023 and $400K of GAM in 2024.  LA will pay half of Cabral's salary and retain a percentage of any transfer fee should the Rapids sell him.

Cabral was acquired by the Galaxy in April of 2021 for over $6M and in 61 appearances had 6 goals and 5 assists for LA.  Prior to that he was with French Ligue 2 side Valenciennes FC where he came up through their youth academy, having originally started in PSG's academy.  In 63 appearances with Valenciennes he had 11 goals.

At 23 years old (24 in July) Cabral is still early in his career but his start in MLS was not good.  Widely considered one of the worst DP signings in recent years by the Galaxy he was an albatross on their roster and with their upcoming transfer ban for overpaying Pavon and not reporting him as a DP and the $1M GAM fine for it the Galaxy were really on the ropes.  This move helps bail them out of the hole they dug.

On the plus side however, getting them to eat half his $1.65M salary and having already paid his transfer fee means the Rapids are only on the hook for the GAM and for about $150K in cash for each of the next 3 years to pay off the amount between the max salary and 50% of his salary.  So the cost here for a 6 million dollar player 20 months ago is minimal.  He does take a DP slot, but lets be realistic, the Rapids weren't going to use all those slots anyway.

There are still a couple of big negatives for me in this deal, and I think I come down on the side of "this had better work, because this looks like a bad deal right now".  First of all paying the same amount as we got for Kellyn Acosta seems out of whack on this move.  Either we sold Acosta cheaply or we overspent on Cabral, because as a MLS player Acosta is a lot more valuable than Cabral  Secondly, letting a fellow Western Conference team off the hook like this is not a great move.  LA was going to bein a world of hurt, and still will be, but since the transfer ban doesn't take effect until summer this gives them a chance to fill a DP slot before the winter window closes, and replaces the GAM they lost in the fine.  Third, this deal reeks of another case of Plan A and B for a new signing fell apart, so now we need to find a Plan C we can actually get over the line.  Similar to Zardes and Gutierrez last year.

Regardless of how you feel, the Rapids FO (Padraig Smith and co.) have put all their chips on Max and Cabral this season.  That's $2M+ investment in two players that so far haven't shown to be up to making a difference in MLS.  I can't see us making another major attacking move after those, so we will live or die on how that midfield works out.

In related news, earlier this week Minnesota United announced the signing of Clint Irwin, so as expected Yarbrough will have a new backup this year.