Braian Galvan Transferred to Argentina

For a week or so its been rumored that Galvan was going to go back to Argentina.  The rumor was a loan for the season with an option to buy with Talleres.  Today the Rapids made the move official, but it turned out to be a straight transfer to Club Atlético Banfield.  Presumably they came in with a better offer.  Galvan ends his 4 years in Denver with 53 appearances, 4 goals, 4 assists, and 2 notable red cards.

Galvan turns out to be another attempt at finding a young player in South America and developing him into a regular starter and/or selling them on to Europe, but that path has yet to work with any of our signings.  The likes of Juan Ramirez, Lucas Esteves, and Max fall into this category as well, with similar results.  At some point you have to think that maybe whatever Colorado is doing in finding these players and then training them isn't working out.  Galvan might have been the best chance, an unfortunate injury seems to have been the real thing that held him back.

With his absence the Rapids now have 32 players under contract, but most liked 28 that will be available for selection during the season.  M. Navarro, R. Cabral, D. Chacon, and A. Keita, for a variety of different reasons, are unlikely to be on the roster for selection this season.  That does give the team an open international slot and room to add another plater should they want to.

Galvan Out For Season

The rumor that trickled out over the weekend was confirmed accurate today as the Rapids announced that Braian Galvan had surgery on his knee for a blown ACL with medial and lateral meniscus damage.  The recovery time is expected to be 9 months, which puts any possible return somewhere around MLS Cup.  I'm sure that if that recovery time looks accurate over the next couple of weeks we'll see him placed on the season-ending injury list by the roster compliance day.  This would allow the Rapids to sign a player to replace him and not Galvan count against the cap or take an international slot in 2022.

Needless to say, this sucks.  I think everyone was excited about the steps Galvan was likely to take this year and expected him to be a core part of the squad.  Our attacking options take another knock and we're going to have to lean heavily on Max and Bryan Acosta now to make up for what we've lost in Kellyn Acosta, Badji, Namli, and Cole Bassett.  (13G and 8A).

Player News!

For the first time in what feels like years we have actual player news about the Rapids.  Today the club signed defensive midfielder Collen Warner to a one year deal.  I have to admit I'm embarrassingly at a bit of a loss on this one.  Warner got his start with the Rapids U-23s in 2007, played over 200 times in MLS in the last decade for FSL, Montreal, Toronto, Houston, and Minnesota, and is a Denver native, and yet I know nothing about him and couldn't even place his name when I saw the announcement.  I have no idea how he remained below my radar all these years, but here he is.

He spent last year playing for a second division side in Denmark.  He was with Toronto while Fraser was coaching there, so they have a history together.  He's brought in as a backup to Price mainly, which is an area that's a bit thin in the team.  We have a number of players who can play central mid, but really only Price and Wilson, plus our rookie Kelly, play a real defensive mid position.  He will be with the team in Orlando.

There was also news today on Braian Galvan, who is reportedly in Colorado now and currently under government mandated quarantine for travelers.  He won't be able to train with the team before they leave for Orlando on Sunday, but he is expected to travel to Orlando and be part of the training sessions in Orlando, making him available for the tournament.  There's been mixed reporting on if he'll be able to travel with the team or if his quarantine will force him to travel later.

That now puts us at 31 players under contract, but of course with a number of them on loan we don't have to worry about the roster limit of 30.

Rapids Make It A Hat-Trick Of Signings In As Many Days

For the third day in a row the Rapids announced a signing.  This time its the oft-rumored Braian Galvan from Colon in Argentina.  The announcement is a pre-contract signing with Galvan joining the team in the summer window.  Players currently under contract can sign a contract with a new team once they're within 6 months of the end of their contract, with the transfer happening in the first window after the expiration of their current contract.  Galvan is out of contract in June, so he could sign a contract starting in December and would be able to join us in July.

At the time of the announcement there was hope that we could come to a deal to buy him from Colon in the winter window and have him join the team in preseason.  That hope seems to have died tonight as Colon has released a letter claiming that we illegally signed Galvan before he was eligible to sign a pre-contract.  I'm reading things through Google Translate so my take on the situation is a bit hit or miss, but this article makes it seem that Colon is claiming that because he was injured and not able to play he hadn't actually fulfilled his contract yet and as such, wasn't in the last 6 months of his contract.

Quite simply, that's a joke if accurate and will never hold up to any ruling from FIFA and probably not even from the Argentinian FA, who they're partitioning.  This is pretty clearly a face saving move by Colon as their fans were not pleased when they learned they were losing one of the "jewels" of their club on a free because their leadership dropped the ball and let him get into the six month window without securing his long-term rights.  At worst I expect the Rapids to toss a little money Colon's way to make this issue go away, but they might not even get that.

I'm pretty sure that's going to be the end of the news this week, at least until players report to Commerce City for physicals on Saturday before they head to California on Tuesday.  Over the weekend I'll have my normal camp roster up and an analysis of where we stand and what moves we may still need to make.

MLS Superdraft and Young DP

Two big areas to cover today.  First, tomorrow is the MLS Superdraft.  It kind of snuck up on us with the holidays and the lack of a combine this year.

The Rapids have the 11th pick in all four rounds, as well as the 9th pick in the fourth round (from the Azira trade).  I'm hearing that the Rapids are focusing on Jeremy Kelly, a DM/RB out of North Carolina with their first pick.  He would be good cover for Rosenberry and allow Anderson more time to mature into the role as well as providing extra flexibility in the midfield if needed.

The rest of the picks are unlikely to amount to anything given the track history of recent drafts.  There certainly could be a diamond in the rough out there but the odds are against it.  Likely we'll find some good players to stock the Switchbacks with and maybe in a couple of years we'll look back and see we found a solid MLS player.

On the Young Designated Player front, we seem to have our player, if reports out of Argentina are accurate.  We have apparently signed Brian Galvan from Athletico Colon, a 19 year old midfielder.  The situation seems to be that Galvan is out of contract in June.  Players are allowed to sign future contracts once they're within 6 months of the end of their current contract.  Colon seems to have lost track of Galvan's contract status and allowed him to get into that 6 month window without locking him down for the future.  The Rapids apparently swooped in and got him signed before Colon realized their mistake.

Needless to say their fans are not pleased.  There is currently negotiations going on between the Rapids and Colon to buy him now and get him here in preseason instead of waiting for the summer transfer window.  It would be great to get him in now but that has to be balanced against how much its worth paying to get a young DP for the first half of the season when you know he;s showing up in July.

Galvan has only made 8 appearances for Colon in his career so far.  He suffered a knee injury 9 months or so ago that's kept him out but he's made 4 appearances in the last month and a half or so, according to Transfermarkt.  I expect that this is a move like Barco was for Atlanta, not expected to be an immediate impact but a long-term move.  Either he becomes a star for the Rapids or he becomes an asset we can sell on for more money than we paid for him.