Nicolas Mezquida Transferred To Volos FC

Originally reported by Richard Fleming over the weekend and made official today, Nicolas Mezquida has transferred to Volos FC of the Greek Super League.  According to Fleming's reporting there was a "gentleman's agreement" between Nico and the Rapids to allow him to go back to Europe.  What that generally means is that the Rapids are willing to allow him out of his contract to sign somewhere else for free, but Nico won't get the rest of his contract "bought out" (so he won't get paid for it).  None of the reporting of the move has mentioned a transfer fee, so that would match up.

Mezquida was a free agent after last season and it had been reported he talked to a couple of other MLS teams before re-signing with the Rapids for a surprisingly low number.  The official press release said that he wanted to go back to Europe to get more playing time, and Colorado was happy to make it happen.  Presumably he feels like he's going to get more chances in Greece, and at 30 years old he knows he's coming into the backside of his career.

On the field Nico won't be that big of a loss, so far this season he had come off the bench 9 times for a total of 105 minutes.  Last year he had 652 minutes of time in 6 starts and 16 sub appearances, scoring once.  Off the field he's known as a great locker room guy who was always positive and willing to do what it took to help the team.  That part may be a bit harder to replace.

With the move the Rapids are back to 30 players under contract, including Sam Nicholson.  But with loans to Rapids 2 and season-ending injuries to Galvan and Keita there's room to add more players should we want to.