Rapids Finish(?) Their International Signings

Today Colorado made the last of their rumored signings official, announcing the signing of Australian left-back Alex Gersbach from French Ligue 2 side Grenoble.  The 25 year old signed a 3-year deal with a club option for a 4th year.  He immediately becomes the expected starter at left back.  The team is hopeful that they can get his paperwork processed in time for Gersbach to join them in Orlando for the second half of preseason.

With this signing every significant signing rumor has been wrapped up.  That doesn't rule out a new rumor of close, but with the transfer window for most major European leagues closing in less than 24 hours it certainly makes it harder.  Teams generally don't want to sell vital parts if they can't replace them.  Of course, trades within MLS are still available until the MLS window closes in May.  For now though our big signings from outside the U.S. soccer sphere are likely to be Gersbach, Ronan, and Maxsø.

Also on Sunday the Rapids played their last preseason friendly in Mexico, against Liga MX side Queretaro.  After 90 minutes the Rapids were up 1-0 on Yapi's third goal of the preseason.  After the "end" of the game the teams agreed to scrimmage for 30 more minutes.  Colorado sent out a XI made up of reserves, Rapids 2 players, and Academy players, and promptly gave up 3 goals "losing" 3-1.  The Rapids won the main part of the game though which has to be considered a success.  The lineup for the match was:

Yarbrough

Anderson - Abubakar - Wilson - Beitashour

Price

Max - Bassett

Nicholson - Rubio - Barrios

and then after half they subbed to:

Rodriguez

Garcia - Edwards - Bombito - Markanich

Priso

Galvan - Acosta

Vargas - Yapi - Harris

The Rapids now come back to Commerce City for a few days before heading out to Orlando for the rest of preseason.  They'll fly from central Florida to Seattle for the opener in just under 4 weeks.

Welcome Andres Maxsø! Leg Godt!

Today Colorado announced the signing of Danish center back Andreas Maxsø from Danish side Brøndby.  Its a three-year contract with a team option for a fourth year, and he will be a Designated Player, the club's 9th in their history.  Terms of the deal were not announced but talk seems to put the transfer fee at under a million Euros.  The team is hoping he'll be able to join them in Florida for the second half of preseason, should all the paperwork get done quickly.

This is the biggest, and most exciting, signing of the offseason.  He fills an immediate need and gives Fraser the option to play with a 4 or 5 man back line.  The outpouring of well wishes from the Brøndby fans to his departure shows the kind of leader and fan favorite he's been in Denmark, and at 29 he should be at the top of his game through this contract.  Apparently he also takes penalty kicks, which is a nice additional option to have.

BTW, leg godt means 'play well' in Danish.  A contraction of the words created the name of arguably Denmark's most famous export, LEGO.

Also today the "finalized" move of GK Patrick Pentz to Colorado because an officially announced move of Patrick Pentz to Bayer Leverkusen.  Apparently that early talk of him being linked to Colorado as a way to drum up interest by his agent might have been somewhat accurate.  The talk in the last week is that he wanted to leave Reims to find playing time, but he was happy to sign a larger contract to take over as backup in Leverkusen, a role that will likely go away when their actual backup returns from injury next season.

Second Friendly And More Rumors

Yesterday the Rapids had their second preseason match, this one against Mexican second division side Mineros FC.  It was a 5-3 win that Colorado led throughout.  The starting XI:

Yarbrough

Anderson - Abubakar - Edwards - Markanich

Price

Bassett - Galvan

Barrios - Yapi - Cabral

The formation is my best guess as to how the 11 lined up.  Bassett scored twice in the first 10 minutes before Mineros got one back from a PK midway through the half.  Colorado then slammed the door shut with goals from Rubio, Nicholson, and Cabral (a PK) before halftime.  Galvan, Edwards, Vallecilla, Cabral, and Rosenberry all picked up assists on the scoring.  Mineros would get two back after the break.  Once again there was no updates as to who subbed in/out during the game but obviously Rosenberry, Nicholson, and Rubio all got in at some point in the first half.

Also in the last 48 hours there's been a new signing rumor and more heat around one of the rumors I discussed this weekend,  The one player we haven't heard anything more about is Maxsø which is a little disappointing.  The player that' heated up is Austrian goalkeeper Patrick Pentz, with multiple reports that a deal is done.  At the same time draftee goalkeeper Oliver Semmle has a USL offer and reported interest back in his home country of Germany.  There was talk before they even left for Mexico that he was at best a long-shot to make the squad, now with another keeper being signed and having other options I would be surprised if he even makes the trip to Orlando to finish preseason.

The new rumor is finally a left back rumor, specifically left back Alex Gersbach.  He's Australian and will turn 26 in early May.  Currently he's with French Ligue 2 side Grenoble where he's made 42 appearances since he joined them before the start of the 21/22 season.  He's also made 6 appearances for the Australian National Team, though he was not part of their recent World Cup roster.  He's also spent time with teams in Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands and got his professional start with his home country's Sydney FC.

Obviously he fills the biggest hole remaining on the roster with only Markanich and Beitashour as "natural" left backs, and neither one seem ready to be an every game starter in 2023 (for very different reasons).  

If you're wondering about our ability to sign all these internationals its a bit hard to track where we are.  We know for sure that we have 9 slots in 2023.  The tricky part is that the roster page seems to be in flux so tracking who qualifies as an international is tough.  Right now Nicholson is listed as an international, despite having gotten his green card during his first stint with the Rapids.  Acosta, Vallecilla, and Wilson are not listed as internationals though they were internationals last year.  If the website is correct we have 7 internationals under contract (Max, Price, Cabral, Harris, Ronan, Galvan, Nicholson).  That means we'd need to find a international slot, loan an international out, or hope somebody (probably Price or Harris) get their green card before the season if we want to sign all 3 rumored international players.  Thanks to Joseph Samelson for helping me figure all this out.

Colorado Signs Connor Ronan

Today the Rapids announced the rumored signing of Irish midfielder Connor Ronan from Wolverhamptom Wolves of the EPL.  Terms of the deal were not announced but reports back in the U.K. state that Colorado paid a fee of 500K pounds, a little over $600K.  Ronan signed a 4 year deal with a team option for a 5th year so he could be with us through 2027, when he'll be 29 years old.

I covered most of the details on Ronan just 48 hours ago, so there's not much more to say here.  The length of his contract is notable, for a team that has largely left itself outs on international deals by making them short-term or loans to start, they've now given 5 year deals to their biggest offseason signings the last two years (Max and Ronan).  This either suggests confidence in their scouting has improved, or they're finding it harder to get players to sign without the assurance of moving to the U.S. being a long-term move.

Next up, Andreas Maxsø?

Weekly RoundUp

Of course early this week when I had time there was no news, then in the last 48 hours when I had a ton of stuff going on there's was a bunch of news.  So lets get caught up all at once.

First the Leagues Cup groups were announced yesterday.  The groups were determined by giving the MLS and Liga MX champs a bye to the knockout round, then the remaining top 15 teams in each leagues were seeded opposite each other.  So the best of those 15 MLS teams got the worst of those 15 Liga MX teams, second-best got second-worst, etc.  The Rapids were not one of the 16 best teams last season.  The way they seeded the remaining teams was to break them up into regions (West, Central, South, East) and then seed them so the best MLS team in that division got the worst remaining MLS team in that division in their group.  

The end result of all that is that the Rapids ended up in a group with Nashville SC and Toluca from Liga MX.  The Rapids will host Toluca, and Nashville will host both the Rapids and Toluca.  After the 3 games the top two teams move on to the knockout rounds.  My guess is that the Rapids will travel to Nashville first, then the games against Toluca will happen so that Toluca will know immediately if they are staying in the U.S. for the knockout rounds or are eliminated and can go home.  I don't know much about Toluca, but taking a look at their recent finishes they finished 6th in the recent Apertura and before that they went 15th, 6th, 11th, 11th, 15th (COVID shortened), and 17th.  Based on that they seem very similar to the Rapids.  Sometimes good, sometimes bad, mostly mediocre.  I think this is a group we can get out of, but it will be close games between all three teams.

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Next up, on Thursday Colorado played its first friendly of the season, a 3-0 win over second-division Mexican side Celaya FC.  There was no stream of the match so all we've seen is a few highlights the Rapids have posted.  The goals were scored by Darren Yapi, who got a brace, and Diego Rubio.  Nicholson had the assist on the Rubio goal while Rapids 2 winger Yosuke Hanya got assists on both Yapi goals (Rubio also got an assist on the second.  All the goals were after the 60th minute, and the Rapids made wholesale changes in both the 30th and 60th minute,  Unfortunately the Rapids twitter feed only reported on the 30th minute changes and the starting 11 so we don't know who else was on the field when the team started scoring.  At least 23 players got 30 minutes in the friendly though.

Another note, in some of the camp footage the Rapids have posted from Mexico you can see Drew Moor in coach's gear in the background.  I don't know if he's just helping out during preseason or if he's going to be officially added to the staff (he did get a coach's jacket with his initials on it) but regardless, good to see he's still involved with the club.  Hat-tip to Joseph Samelson for pointing that out to me.

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The other thing that happened this week is rumors about 4 different signings from Europe.  Two have been reported by Brenden Ploen at the Denver Post as done deals, while two others are more rumors.

Dispensing with the rumors the Rapids were linked to two players, French Ligue 1 Reims and Austrian international keeper Patrick Pentz and Cypriot First Division Omonoia and Nigerian international keeper Francis Uzoho.  Being linked with two keepers is a bit unusual, given that Yarbrough has pretty solidly locked up the starting spot.  But Yarbrough only has one guaranteed year left on his contract, with a team-option for 2023, and will turn 34 in two months.  We saw his play fall off last year compared to 20221, but with a much worse defense in front of him as well.  So the Rapids thinking about a post-Yarbrough future isn't out of line right now, but you have to wonder about the wisdom of looking internationally for a position the U.S. does very well in developing, and its a little frustrating to hear about the team looking at future potential over filling in the current holes.  That said, from some of the scuttlebutt I'm hearing, these reports seem to be more about agents using some passing interest to hype up their clients more than true interest from Colorado

The two moves that are expected to be completed in the near future are the signing of Irish midfielder Connor Ronan from Wolves of the English Championship and Danish centerback Andreas Maxsø from Brøndby in the Danish Superliga.

Ronan will turn 25 in about 6 weeks, and came up through the youth system at Wolverhampton (and before that Rochdale), making his first team debut in 2016.  He's only appeared 8 times for Wolves, being sent on a succession of loans, including stints in Slovakia and Switzerland.  Most recently he spent the '21-'22 season with St. Mirren in the Scottish Premiership where he was a regular starter, with 24 starts and 7 goals.  He became known for his long-range shot, scoring repeatedly from outside the box.  He's also on the edges of the Irish national team, having played for all the youth sides and being called to camp last March but has not yet been capped by the full team.

Ronan would add to what's becoming a very crowded midfield with Price, Max, Bassett, Priso, Acosta, and Larraz all available to play in the center.  Price, being a former Wolves player himself, probably helped with a recommendation on Ronan so you hope they could work well together.  At 25 this is also a potential move for the future.

The other rumored "all but done" deal is the most exciting move of the offseason IMO.  Maxsø will turn 29 in a couple of months and is a regular starter for top-Danish club Brøndby.  He joined them at the start of the 2019/20 season from a third division German side and has made 96 appearances in 3.5 years.  6 months after arriving he was named team captain, a position he still holds.  He helped lead Brøndby back to a championship in the 2020/21 season and appeared in the Champions League qualifying stages against Red Bull Salzburg, scoring a goal in the home leg.  He's a fan favorite but has struggled over the last season, so it may be time for a new start somewhere else.  He seems to prefer playing in a back 3, so this may indicate a return to our 3/5-man backline in 2023.

IMO this is exactly the type of player we should be looking at.  He comes from a generally "lesser" league but as a starter for one of the top teams we should expect him to be MLS quality.  At 28/29 he's at the top of his game, and he fills an immediate need in giving us a starter at centerback.  If he's a good as he appears to be I expect him to be a regular starter this season.

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Last, but not least, I wanted to comment on the news from VOX Media, who owns the SB Nation sites including Burgundy Wave, yesterday.  Their decision to pull back on MLS sites is a disappointing one, and leaves good writers for Rapids coverage like Matt Pollard and Joseph Samelson in limbo.  I have written for them off and on over the years, paid in nothing but publicity (that's a statement, not a complaint), and its great to have a central place for Rapids coverage like Burgundy Wave.  I haven't always agreed with their take on things, and depending on who was running it at the time I was more or less involved, but I as really looking forward to what Matt and Joseph were going to do this season.  Hopefully they can come up with a workable plan to keep it running.

Finally Some Preseason News

After a week of nothing out of Commerce City we got two announcements yesterday.  The first was that Colorado re-signed Michael Edwards,  Edwards was the homegrown defender we acquired from DC last year and who spent the season with Rapids 2 and the Switchbacks.  He's been re-signed for 2 seasons.  I don't expect him to have a significant impact on the 2023 season.

The other thing we got was a list of trialists that travelled to MExico with the team.  Looking at this list I'm not sure any will make the team, but there are some possibilities.

From Rapids 2:

M Daniel Chacon - Chacon was signed by Rapids 2 in the middle of last season and immediately loaned back to his Costa Rican team in preparation for the World Cup.  It seemed to work as he was on the plane to Qatar and got one appearance, the final minute in the Ticos win against Japan.  If any trialist is likely to make the final roster I think its Chacon but it still feels like a bit of a long shot.

M Yosuke Hanya - Hanya is a winger who played a similar role for Rapids 2 as Lewis plays for the senior team.  Fast, nose for goal, still has some things to work on.  I'm hopeful he turns into something long-term but I don't see it in 2023.

M Marlon Vargas - Just signed by Rapids 2 this week from Tacoma Defiance.  I know very little about him but I doubt he would have signed a MLS NEXT contract if there was a realistic shot at a MLS deal.

From Rapids Academy:

M Robinson Aguirre - Aguirre just turned 18 after Thanksgiving but was already a regular for Rapids 2 last season and has appeared for El Salvador.  Another young midfielder with potential.

GK Adam Beaudry - Beaudry isn't in Mexico yet, having been called up for the U.S.'s U-17 camp, but will join the team there.  He could be competing for the 3rd GK spot with draftee Semmle but he feels a bit young to make that jump from the Academy to the first team this year.

D Daniel Garcia - 18 year old Garcia has been in the Academy since his U-12 days.  He appeared in about half the Rapids 2 games last season, which isn't the most convincing track record to move up yet.

Other trialists:

D Ismaila Jome - Jome is already a bit of a journeyman at 28, having played for everyone from the Ventura County to Minnesota United.  He appeared the most for the Switchbacks in 2019 with 34 appearances, after which he spent a season with the Austin Bold and two seasons with Timbers/Timbers 2.  This is actually not his first appearance in a Rapids uniform (hat-tip to Joseph Samelson on this) as he was one of the Switchbacks "loaned" to the Rapids for the Arsenal friendly in 2019 where he came off the bench.  If Chacon doesn't make the move up Jome is the only other player I think might get signed.

GK Oliver Semmle - Our second round draft pick, he'll be looking to claim the 3rd goalkeeper spot behind Yarbrough and Rodriguez.  Though from what I hear its a big hill to climb.

So here's our full camp roster, with roster designations noted where I know them.  Unsigned players in italics:

Goalkeepers:

Abe Rodriguez - Homegrown

William Yarbrough

Oliver Semmle - Draftee

Adam Beaudry - Academy

Defenders:

Lalas Abubakar

Seb Anderson - Homegrown

Steven Beitashour

Moise Bombito - Generation Adidas, International

Michael Edwards - Homegrown

Aboubacar Keita - Homegrown

Anthony Markanich

Keegan Rosenberry

Jackson Travis - Homegrown

Gustavo Vallecilla - U22 Initiative, International

Danny Wilson - International

Daniel Garcia - Academy

Ismaila Jome

Midfielders:

Bryan Acosta

Max - U22 Initiative, International

Cole Bassett - Homegrown

Braian Galvan - International

Oliver Larraz - Homegrown

Sam Nicholson - International

Jack Price - International

Ralph Priso - Homegrown

Daniel Chacon - Rapids 2

Yosuke Hanya - Rapids 2

Marlon Vargas - Rapids 2

Robinson Aguirre - Academy

Forwards:

Michael Barrios

Kevin Cabral

Calvin Harris - Generation Adidas

Jonathan Lewis

Diego Rubio

Darren Yapi - Homegrown

Well, Preseason Is Here

I went pretty quiet over the holidays, first because we got caught in Southwest's meltdown and our Christmas back in Seattle with my extended family became a Christmas in Denver with our cat for my wife and me.  Then after enjoying some downtime I was hoping the Rapids would do...something in the lead up to training camp opening but instead we got more silence than the lack of announcements about the cancellation of our flight.  So here we are.  The players report to Commerce City tomorrow for fitness checks over the weekend and camp officially opens on Monday.

I did leave one thing out, right before Christmas Colorado waived Collen Warner.  He was under contract for 2023 so unless we're using our one allowed buyout per offseason on him we will have to take his cap hit next year.  That was a grand total of $84K, unless he was a Supplemental Player who didn't count against the cap.

So with that the Rapids "offseason" moves are officially over.  They amounted to letting Irwin, Zardes, Mayaka, Edwards, and Warner go and letting Esteves and Gutierrez return to their teams from their loans.  To replace them we recalled M Cole Bassett, traded for M/F Kevin Cabral and F Calvin Harris, and drafted D Moise Bombito and GK Oliver Semmle.  We also re-signed D Steven Beitashour.

Um, yeah.  I don't see how this team got better.  Yes, we get Keita, Larraz, and Galvan back from injury (and Price as well) but this is not a MLS-caliber team right now.  We might have a competitive starting XI, but there are real questions about our depth pretty much everywhere.  We have a complete hole at LB and our striker options to partner with Rubio are questionable right now.

Hopefully what that means is that there are still moved to come when camp opens, but you have to winder what's taking so long.  The more time the players have to work together in camp the better.  This week has been full of news from other teams making signings, including a report tonight that FSL is dropping $4M on a winger.  If the worst team in the Rockies can drop that kind of coin on a signing there are real questions as to why the Rapids aren't making significant moves, especially after landing UC Health as a sponsor and stockpiling GAM.

Moving away from the roster, the team also announced their plans for preseason today.  After getting the basics out of the was in Commerce City the team will head to Queretaro in Mexico for about 3 weeks for altitude training in warmer weather than Colorado.  While there they will have closed-door matches against Liga MX side Queretaro FC and second-division clubs Celaya FC and Mineros de Zacatecas.  This is a great thing to see from Colorado, its time to get out of the "comfort zone" of spending the full training camps in Arizona or Florida playing other MLS sides and USL clubs.  I just wish we had done it last season when the work in Mexico might have helped us with our opening match in CCL play in El Salvador.

After their Mexican stay the team will come back to Commerce City just long enough for everyone to check in and see their families and friends before turning around and heading to Orlando on February 5th.  They'll stay there through the end of preseason and fly from there directly to Seattle for the season opener on February 26th.  While in Florida they'll have closed door friendlies against Orlando City and Philly, as well as USL side Miami FC.

A really good looking preseason plan.  I just hope we have a good roster to go along with it.