Rapids Pass On Esteves

Yesterday the Colorado Rapids announced that they would not exercise the buy clause in Lucas Esteves' loan contract.   This was set at $1M for 50% of his rights (or in Football Manager terms, a $1M transfer fee with a 50% sell-on clause).  In order for that to make sense the Raids would have had to have gotten at least $2M in value from Esteves, either in his play or in a future transfer fee.

Colorado reportedly sold Vines for $2M+, so essentially Esteves would have to be as valuable to the Rapids as Sam Vines was.  Esteves is not as valuable as Sam Vines.  This was a good decision by the club even with a lack of an obvious replacement at the moment.  The team should not throw money away just because they feel like they don't have an option.  We're not going to get better by using our limited fund on players who aren't worth it.

This, however, leaves let another hole for the Front Office to fill in an offseason that's starting to get short.  I expect training camp to open somewhere between January 9th and the 16th.  Last year it opened on the 10th but we had a CCL game to play before league play started, which meant we had to open camp a little earlier.  Essentially in about 6 weeks players will be reporting and we only have half a starting XI right now.

Rapids Bring Nicholson Back, Reportedly Extend Esteves

Colorado made two roster moves today, one officially and one reportedly.  The bigger of the two (and the official one) is bringing winger Sam Nicholson back for a second stint in Commerce City.  Nicholson originally joined the Rapids in a trade from Minnesota in 2018 in exchange for Eric Miller.  He stayed with the club up until the COVID shutdown in 2020.  I had heard rumors Sam didn't want to leave Colorado but had to for personal reasons, and the club wanted to bring him back after his contract with Bristol Rovers was up.  Those rumors turned out to be correct today.

We signed him for 2.5 years (through 2024) with a club option for 2025.  He was a regular starter for Fraser in 2019 and the first couple of games of 2020 before the COVID shutdown, so he should have no problem fitting back into the style of the club.  At 27 now the added experience should help push the likes of Lewis and Barrios to step their game up or see their minutes lost to Sam.  Nicholson isn't the difference between winning MLs Cup and falling short, but he's a solid signing that should help the team.

The other reported move today (by Yahoo Sports) is that the Rapids have extended Lucas Esteves' loan from Palmeiras for another $200K, with the same clause to buy him for $1M.  And that $1M is only for 50% of his rights, it sounds like Palmeiras wants to keep 50% of any sell-on, so they are essentially valuing him at $2M.  This is the right move as Esteves has shown glimpses of being a strong left back (or maybe left winger) in MLS, but not enough to justify dropping $1M on him.

Welcome Lucas Esteves!

As expected the Rapids announced the loan deal to bring Brazilian LB Lucas Esteves to the Rapids today.  The loan is for essentially one year, expiring at the end of June next year, and the Rapids have an option to buy him in the deal.  I expect that the rest of this season will essentially be a trial for him and we'd buy him on the offseason and get him on a contract that syncs up with the MLS season.

Esteves came up through the Palmieras youth system and has made 27 appearances with the first team since 2019.  He was also invited to Brazil's national team camp before the Copa America but has not yet been capped.  He won't be available tomorrow but I would hope it won't take long to get his visa sorted out.

Also today the Rapids loaned Ollie Larraz to the San Diego Loyal for the rest of the season.  I'm a little surprised by the move as Larraz has gotten a few appearances this season.  But this could be a case of having two players leave (Vines, Benezet) and adding three (Kaye, Badji, Esteves) and needing a free roster spot.  Also with the addition of Kaye the number of available minutes in midfield for somebody like Larraz is going to drop.  I'm excited for him to get some time under Loyal manager Landon Donovan though.  I gave LD a lot of crap during his career, some unfairly so during his break for his mental health, but since he took over as the manager of the Loyal he's been nothing but great.  Larraz could learn a lot from him.