Au Revoir Awaziem

The expected transfer of Chidozie Awazeim to FC Nantes in Ligue 1 was made official this morning.  Terms of the deal were not announced but Burgundy Wave is saying the transfer fee is around $1.5M, with an expectation of 10-20% of that going back to Cincinnati.  Colorado paid Cinci $1M of GAM to get Awaziem and Murphy.  So we're going to come out a little ahead on this by getting Murphy and some money we can use other ways while getting our $1M of GAM back.

One target of that money appears to be English center-back Rob Holding, who Bogert is reporting (and confirmed by Burgundy Wave and the Post) is in discussions with the Rapids.  Holding is a 29 year old who made 98 appearances over 7 seasons with Arsenal (KSE connection).  Since 2023 he's been with Crystal Palace where he almost immediately had a falling out with the manager and was relegated to the reserves and U-21 team though he made 11 appearances for Sheffield United on loan in the Championship earlier this year.

According to Tom Holding also has an offer from an English team, so we have to hope MLS and the Rapids aren't being used as the stalking horse for him to drive up his contract to stay in England.  That said I did see today that his long-term girlfriend is American so he might have a reason that he wants to come to MLS.  Somebody who had a training blow-up with his manager has some concerns (see Aigner, Stefan) but you would hope the Rapids have access to Arsenal's information and know what they're getting.  He would be an unusual signing for Smith and Taylor, being on the backside of his career, but we need immediate help at CB, not "potential" so that's not a bad thing.