I'm unexpectedly making a second post tonight. MLSsoccer.com just broke news that the Rapids have agreed to terms with National team midfielder Benny Feilhaber. The report is a one year deal at just below max salary with a team option for a second year.
For the first three years of his career Benny played in Germany, England, and Denmark before returning to the U.S. and joining New England in 2011. After two seasons there he was traded to Kansas City where he played for 5 years before being traded to LAFC last year where he played in every match, starting all but 2.
Feilhaber has been a iron man in MLS, playing in almost every game in his 8 seasons in the league, averaging just under 30 appearances a season. In that time he has 37 goals and 56 assists. As a #10 he's known for passes that can pick a defense apart and a mouth that can get in their heads. He's particularly hated by FSL fans, which, bonus!
I like this move by the Rapids. There's no long term commitment and it fills a 2019 hole, namely that we won't be expecting Mezquida to be "the man" to run the attack yet. I'm not expecting a MVP season from Benny at his age, but if he can put in 60-70 minutes in each of his starts, make 25+ appearances, and total a combined 8-10 goals and assists over the season it will be a solid move for the year. I think those numbers are reasonable, if a bit of a stretch.
If I can manager not to misspell his name more than 5 times this year I'll be pretty happy too.
Thursday, January 10, 2019
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1 comment:
I too think this is a very good acquisition for the Rapids. He fills an immediate need and obviously is very experienced in the MLS. It's great the Rapids didn't have to give anything up to get him and it seems he wants to be here as according to Pádraig Feilhaber had other options.
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