Bombito Is Nice

First reported by Fabrizio Romano this morning and confirmed by a number of different sources Moise Bombito has been sold to Ligue 1 side Nice for 7 million Euros (about $7.7 million) with an additional $3M in add-ons and a sell-on clause.  The move won't be official until he passes his medical later this week but the deal is agreed upon and Bombito is travelling to France.  He has played his last game as a Rapid.

This is, by far, the biggest sale in Colorado history and that's before the add-ons and any additional income from a future sale.  There was never going to be a better time to strike than right now, with Moise coming off a great Copa run and showing to be one of the better defenders in MLS this season.  After just 40 first-team competitive appearances after being drafted last year he's off to a big 5 league and a team in European competition as they've qualified for the Europa League group stage this season.  A huge move for the young Canadian.

Well done to Smith for holding out for more after the $5.5M offer from Lyon.  And a great job by the Front Office in drafting him with the pick they got in the Mark-Anthony Kaye trade.  In fact, lets talk about MAK and what we managed to do.

We acquired MAK for $1m in GAM and he came with a 2022 draft pick.  We traded that pick for $125K in GAM and a lower pick that became Anthony Markanich.  He was traded to St. Louis for $150K in GAM and a draft pick we later traded for $75K in GAM.

So in the end to get MAK we spent $650K in GAM.  We then turned around and traded MAK to Toronto for $1M in GAM, Ralph Priso, and a draft pick that we used to select Bombito.  We traded Priso to Vancouver for $150K in GAM and a first and 3rd round pick next year.

So in the end, from that original $1M in GAM, we ended up with $1.5M in GAM, two picks next year, and a almost $8M sale of a player.  Oh, and all the playing time we got out of MAK, Bombito, Priso, and Markanich.  Just a ridiculous bit of business.

The downside to this, of course, is that we lose Bombito and have 24 hours before the window closes.  And there's been no rumors of any signings by Colorado.  So our CB depth the rest of the way is Maxso, Abubakar, Edwards, and Chacon.  That's...not great.  I'd like to see the Rapids make a move tomorrow so we're not standing pat (actually, getting worse with Bombito's loss) while everyone else in the West is getting better.

The cynic in me notices that the $7.7M we got for Bombito is pretty close to the $8M we spent on transfer fees on Mihailovic, Navarro, and the other pieces we acquired in the offseason.  Are we going to see this Bombito money reinvested in the team or will we find out it was pre-spent on those players?  Our track record on summer signings has been pretty bad, so I'm willing to give them until this offseason until I get too worried, but we need to see another round of investment then.

Rapids Return Priso North Of The Border

Colorado made a trade today, sending Ralph Priso to Vancouver in exchange for Vancouver's later of their two first round picks next year and their natural third round pick.  They can also get up to $150K in GAM based on performance.  Tom Bogert reported there would also be a 33% sell on clause which wasn't officially announced.

This is a pretty good return for a player who clearly wasn't progressing and wasn't even making the gameday roster.  Bogert's report says Wayne Frederick had passed him on the depth chart.  So getting a first-round draft pick after being successful (apparently) with Frederick and with Bombito last season and then another pick on top of that is good business.

Priso was originally acquired as part of the trade that sent Kaye to Toronto.  Winding it back a step further we originally traded $1M in GAM and a international slot for a season to LAFC for Kaye and their first round pick.  We turned that pick into $125K in GAM and Markanich.  Markanich was traded for $75K in GAM and St. Louis's first round pick which we turned in another $75K in GAM.

So just from the Kaye trade we ended up with Kaye and $275K in GAM, plus a few games from Markanich.

We then traded Kaye for $1.025M in GAM, an international slot, TFC's 2023 first-round pick, and Priso.  The pick became Moise Bombito, and Priso has now become two more picks.

So in the end we gained $300K in GAM, Moise Bombito, and two picks, plus all the games Markanich, Priso, and Kaye played for the club.  No matter what you think about Markanich and Priso, that's some good work.  Arguably, given Smith's track record, that's better than what he would have done with the initial $1M of GAM we sent to LAFC for Kaye.

Speaking of Bombito, he was called up today for Canada for the Copa America qualifier playoff in two weeks.  He'll be available for this week's game in Seattle, but will then head to Dallas to join up with the Canadian National Team.  He'll miss our next home game against Houston as the playoff game is the same day.

Lastly today the roster rules for the MLS Next Pro teams playing in the Open Cup leaked.  Players will have to be loaned to the MLS Next Pro side from the MLS team for at least 90 days to be eligible and no DP or TAM players are eligible.  Also any players so loaned have to average less than 15 minutes a game through this weekend's MLS games.  Fernandez, Harris, Ronan Navarro, Vines, Larraz, DM, Steffen, Rosenberry, Maxso, Bombito, Bassett, Cabral, and Diack are all ineligible under those rules, and Löffelsend will be ineligible if he plays 19 minutes or more this weekend (Yapi, Lewis, and Travis could all lose eligibility if they play enough minutes in Seattle as well).

Really though, the three month loan requirement is the killer.  I can't see loaning anyone who's likely to get any real playing time this year to Rapids 2 for 3 months just so they can play in the USOC.  Its going to be Nate Jones, Wayne Frederick, or Michael Edwards that might be considered.