Rapids Make A Big Trade And Drop The New Kit

I was going to start off with yesterday's news of the kit drop but something bigger dropped this morning.  The opening act was the Rapids trading another international slot to FSL for A ridiculous $275K of GAM.  On the high end international slots usually go for $200K or a bit more, so FSL must be desperate.  They'll get $225K of it this year and $50K next year.  Colorado has now gotten $725K of GAM and two first round picks from trading 4 international slots next season.

Or I should say that had $725K of GAM because in the main event today they sent $1.3M of GAM plus up to $300K of add-ons to Seattle for Josh Atencio.  The GAM is split recently between 2025 and 2026 and Seattle also retains a20% sell-on clause.  

Atencio is a 23 year old (as of last month) homegrown midfielder who's under contract through 2027 with a 2028 option.  He'll take the Rapids last U-22 spot (due to when the contract was signed) alongside Cole and Ted KDP.  The Sounders were working on converting him from a defensive midfielder to a center back this preseason, given their logjam in midfield and a young Academy player coming up at the position, but he's earned more minutes in midfield then he's been able to get in the Emerald City.

He immediately becomes Colorado's best option at d-mid, a position we've been weak in for a couple of years, and is probably the favorite to grab the starting spot next to Bassett once he settles in, though Ronan and particularly Larraz will push him for minutes.  He also has experience playing with Mihailovic as they were both on the Olympic team last summer.  This is another young American looking to step his game up to the next level to get on the National team radar, like Djordje, Zack, Cole, Sam, and Reggie.  At this point the Rapids are a forward and a center back away from having a team that could have probably qualified for the old Hex in World Cup Qualifying.  :D

With this move you have to figure the team is pretty set for the year.  All 6 "special" positions are filled for the long-term (at least this season) with the three U-22s and Cabral, Mihailovic, and Navarro as the three Designated Players.  Also we're down to 4 international slots and we have 5 international players (Navarro, Awaziem, Ronan, Amadou, and Fadal).  Presumably Amadou or Fadal is destined for Rapids 2 or a loan out, or possibly the two of them will split time moving between R2 and the first-team.  Depending on how players moved up from the Supplemental Roster we might have one senior roster spot left but with no international, U-22, or DP slot I would assume any signing would be more for depth than a big splash.  Though we do have GAM left if we wanted to bring in a player (no idea on if we have cap space though).

Now going back to yesterday's news the team launched the Headwaters Kit:

My first thought is that it looks better than the leaked image but I'm still not fully sold.  I'll have to see it in person.  The Rapids continued their tradition of partnering with a local related charity, in this case making a donation to the Colorado Water Trust. a Boulder-based non-profit dedicated to preserving Colorado's waterways.

Of course the biggest drawback of the new kits is something out of the Rapids' control.  The fact that a customized authentic will now run you $200 after taxes.  A ridiculous number that MLS and Adidas should be ashamed about.  I will continue to pass on the new kits, no matter hoe much I like them, when I can do things like support Football Associations in the Caribbean and South Pacific through Stimulus Athletic and Stingz Sportswear.  The latter in  particular has worked with a number of South Pacific countries to help kick-start their programs by capitalizing on the increased interest in kit collection, having created kits for the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, and Kiribati with all profits going back to the FA's to support grassroots soccer in those countries.  And I've gotten all 3, including shipping from the UK, for less than one MLS authentic.