Catching Up On The First Full Week Of PReseason

Well its been a week.  For me I mean, not the Rapids.  Finally got a chance to catch up.  After the Sam Vines news on Monday we had a preseason scrimmage, a player signing and loaning, and a rumor of another signing.

On Tuesday the Rapids played Mexican second-division side Atlético Morelia FC and lost 3-1.  This has started the normal worries in the Rapids fanbase.  Should we really be losing to a second-division side?  Meh, I'm really not worried.  It was the first game with a new coaching staff and a bunch of new players, Vines didn't play (just got to camp), Mihailovic didn't play (slight knock), Maxso and Ronan only played in the second half, which reportedly we looked much better in, etc.  If you're wondering Rapids 2 player Yosuke Hanya was the only player not under contract who got time.

On Wednesday Colorado announced they had signed Remi Cabral, Kevin Cabral's twin brother, to a contract from Rapids 2.  Then they immediately loaned him to Phoenix in the USL Championship for the season.  Remi is the reigning MLS Next Pro Golden Boot and the Rapids clearly feel like he's ready to step up to the next challenge.  The Championship is seen as a level above Next Pro.  We have the right to recall him at any time should we feel the need.  Since he's on loan for the season he won't take up a roster or international spot.

Then finally yesterday Tom Bogert at the Athletic reported that the Rapids are close to signing defensive midfielder Lamine Diack from Ligue 1 side Nantes.  He's a 23 year old Senegalese international and the rumor is that it would be a 6-month loan with a purchase to buy.  Essentially the same deal we had for Ilic last season.   We've also looked at Portuguese d-mid Leandro Lopes of Cercle Brugge, English d-mid Issac Hayden, and Kellyn Acosta, but according to Tom we prefer Diack because of his youth an potential.

This feels like the first "classic" Rapids move of the offseason.  By which I mean we're taking a flyer on a young player on the hope that his potential pays off, we're doing it as a loan, and we're not filling a critical position with a known option.  The other three players we've considered all have 100+ appearances in leagues roughly equal to MLS (Belgium top-flight, the Championship, the EPL, or in MLS) or better.  Diack has 52 appearances in the Macedonian top division, 34 in the Turkish second division, and 26 in the Turkish top-flight.  He has yet to appear for Nantes since being loaned to them this past summer (Nantes has an option to buy which they would have to exercise before they loaned him to us).  The whole "loan for 6 months and then buy" didn't work well for us last summer with Ilic and I don't think it will work well here either.

If this deal goes down as described its a step back from what has been a great offseason by Rapids standards.