Busy Final Transfer Window Day includes Goodbye To Vines

The Secondary Transfer Window closes in 2 hours, after which the only way a team can add players is if they're already out of contract.  The Rapids made two moves today and probably a third that won't be announced until tomorrow.  The big move was the one we had all been expecting, Sam Vines has been sold to Royal Antwerp in Belgium.  Technically he was still taking his medical and it could fall apart but a guy coming off playing in the Gold Cup final isn't going to fail his medical.  Royal Antwerp fans and media spent the day treating the signing as significant on social media, posting of Vines and his girlfriend Jess arriving at the airport, announcing the signing, and posting an image of him photoshopped into an Antwerp kit.  Its good to see a homegrown Rapid get this kind of publicity for going to Europe.

its unlikely Sam will play but this weeks Antwerp match will be live on ESPN+ at 5:30am Sunday morning.  Also if you're interested in a Sam Vines Antwerp kit they are available on the team website.  The kit is 80 Euros, with another 15 Euros to get a name and number on the back.  As of this afternoon Sam Vines was not available in the player selection when ordering one, but I assume he'll show up there eventually.

The Rapids, understandably, spent the day hyping the move.  Lots of social media posts showing his journey from a 13 year old Academy signing to today, an interview with him, and some shots of him saying goodbye to his teammates on Tuesday.

The team did not reveal any details of the transfer, but the rumor was $2 million dollars plus incentives and a sell-on clause.  There was a good article from Het Nieuwsblad in Belgium about the transfer.  In it they mention that his contract with the Rapids included a clause that let him move to Europe.  That sounds suspiciously to me like a release clause for European teams.  For those unfamiliar, its not unusual for a young player who's signing with a non-top club to have a release clause in the contract that will let him transfer if certain requirements are met regardless of what his current team wants.  Most often that's a "minimum fee" release clause, which means that as long as a team offers a transfer fee of at least the listed amount the player's current club has to accept the offer.  There can also be clauses like "if a team in a European continental competition makes a minimum offer" and such.  I'm thinking that when Sam signed a new contract a couple of years ago, knowing he wanted to go to Europe, he got a clause included and that explains why the rumored $2M fee is lower than what we're seeing from other MLS transfers this window.  If that's all that was needed to trigger the clause, that's all that would be offered.

Regardless, its huge for Sam and the Rapids.  Vines is going to a team that he'll be expected to win the starting job, and they'll be playing in the playoffs for the Europa League in two weeks.  The Rapids now have shown to their Academy kids how there's a path from the Academy to the first team to the National Team and then to Europe.  They also got a nice transfer fee and, should Vines play as well as we expect, some credibility with the next set of teams looking to buy our guys that we develop players well.

The other bit of official news today is that we traded Nicolas Benezet to the Sounders for $50K of GAM, with another $50K of GAM possible if he hits certain performance benchmarks.  Reports are that we kept part (probably most) of his salary on our books but that's fine.  We moved on from a player that wasn't working out and we freed up an international slot.  That's important because of the move that I expect will get done before the window closes but not announced until tomorrow.  There were multiple reports that Brazilian left back Lucas Esteves was in Colorado today to take his physical and finalize his loan deal from Palmeiras.  He will probably need some time to get his visa and acclimate to altitude, so I wouldn't expect to see him in the 18 for a couple of weeks, but he'll be a good option to try to fill the Vines-shaped hole at LB as we get into the second half of the season.

Rapids Make Back To Back Signings On Back To Back Days

As had been heavily rumored, Colorado signed both Younes Namli and Nicolas Benezet this week.  Benezet was reportedly signed to a two year deal while Namli is here on a two year loan with an option to buy.  Salaries and transfer fees have not been released or leaked yet, though I expect them to be in the rumored ballpark.

Both these moves should pay dividends.  Benezet has already shown he can play in MLS with his time in Toronto and should fit right in as a starting winger.  Namli will be the obvious starter in the attacking midfield, and while he hasn't experienced MLS yet coming out of Europa League play is a good baseline to start from.  The loan makes this a low risk, high reward move.  If things don't work out its an easy separation and since the option to buy is in the loan deal if Namli hits (the more likely scenario) we already have an agreed on price.

Padraig Smith talked about more deals in the works, specifically targeting a young player in Argentina.  This matches with the rumored acquisition of Brian Galvan, which seems to be hung up on negotiating his release in the winter window instead of bringing him in on a free in the summer window.  Regardless I don't expect him to make a major impact early in the season so while it would be great to have him as soon as possible, not having him shouldn't be a blow to our hopes.

Kudos go out to the Front Office for making all our major signings are done before camp opens next week.  Many FO's in the past seemed to scramble and just start their offseason work when camp opened, not finish it by then.  We're currently at 25 of 30 players, one extra international, and plenty of time to fill in around the edges.  Its nice to be this comfortable entering the preseason.

Rapids Have Apparently Signed Winger Nicolas Benezet

There have been multiple reports today that the Rapids have signed 29 year old (next month) winger/attacking midfielder Nicolas Benezet.  The reports include Benezet himself retweeting the reports, so that's about as close to confirmation as you can get before its official.

Nicolas Benezet plays for EA Guingamp in France's Ligue 2 but spent the last 6 months on loan to Toronto, where he scored a number of critical goals in their MLS Cup campaign.  He was hopeful of moving full-time to TFC but the automatic buy clause in his loan was triggered after 6 regular season starts, and after his 5th start he came off the bench for the last 3 games of the season before starting all of TFC's playoff games.  Draw your own conclusions.

The rumored cost for Benezet is $500K to EA Guingamp and Benezet is expected to make around $600K.  This will make him a TAM player, not a DP.  We will also be sending $50K of GAM to Toronto to his rights, plus up to another $50K of GAM if he hits certain incentives.

This is a really solid deal for the Rapids, who apparently beat out Vancouver, Cincinnati, and Fake Salt Lake for his signature.  I expect on opening day that our starting wingers will now be Benezet and Lewis with Nicholson and Shinyashiki as subs (and maybe Galvan if that rumor is accurate).  This will generate a high amount of competition in training camp and week to week in training between those four players for starting roles and minutes, which will help the young players.

I expect this puts an end to our chase of Ligue 2 winger Jimmy Cabot.  The rumor was that we could get him on a free in the summer and Lorient didn't want to sell him, seeing him as too critical to their championship push.  With four wingers already and a possible fifth in Galvan, I can't see us signing a DP winger now.

This could be a busy week for the Rapids, with talk of Namli and Galvan growing stronger and players reporting to Commerce City next Saturday for physicals before flying off to camp in California a week from tomorrow.  I expect at least two of these three names to be announced by then, and possibly all three.  Should they be signed I'd guess we have the vast majority of our 2020 roster set, with only a little playing around the edges left.