So long Lucas, ,we hardly knew you. The long-rumored deal with Hull City was made official today. Per Tom Bogert and Braidon Nourse the terms were $17 million up front, $6 million in potential performance add-ons, and a 15% sell-on fee. Depending on the exact number this will probably be the 7th highest fee paid for a MLS player and if the performance incentives hit (and they should) it would jump to second, based on Wikipedia data. Its easily the most ever paid for a defender, the prior record being the $8M the Rapids got for Moise Bombito.
This is a deal the Rapids had to make. Yes we're midseason and in a Cup run, but you can't pass up what could easily be a $25M total payday for an 18 year old you spent a million on less than a year ago. Its not fair to the player and its not a smart move. And credit to the Rapids, getting Williams in appears to have given us sufficient coverage to handle this move.
As far as Herrington goes, he is very likely going to have the best post-Rapids career of any former player. Rapids players have gone on to do good things, from Marcus Hahnemann to Auston Trusty, but no player has left this young at this value. There's a decent chance we're going to be able to say "I saw that guy play when he was just coming up". Lucas was fun to watch and composed beyond his years.
With this move arguably the most important 6-12 months in Rapids history has started. Padraig Smith came out and said today that all the money from the sale will be reinvested into the club. Then we have the USOC run. At the end of the season the KSE leadership will have to decide if they're keeping Smith, and in what capacity. Once the calendar flips to 2027 we've got the sprint season and then the start of the winter schedule. Each of these are major turning points for this club. Which makes the following both expected and disappointing
Sport5 (Israel's ESPN) is reporting a deal has been struck for Maccabi Tel Aviv forward Sayed Abu Farhi. The report is $6M plus a 25% sell-on clause. Burgundy Wave can confirm the Rapids are interested in him, but can not confirm the size of the offer. Abu Farhi is listed as a forward but some basic research suggests he might be more of a winger or outside striker. Transfermrkt, not always the most reliable, lists his value at about $2.3M
This seems like a massive overpay for a player from a league that's not as good as MLS. However if the deal is 6 million Israeli shekels + the sell-on, that's about $2M, which would be much more in line with his value. Still feels like an overpay but he wouldn't instantly become the second highest purchased Rapids player. If we really pay $6M for him it feels like another Padraig Smith special, where we look for a diamond in the rough instead of paying for proven talent.
Reports like that just reinforces the feeling I have that this team is not prepared for this critical juncture. I haven't seen anything since Kevin Demoff took more of a hands on approach 9-10 months ago that suggests this club is going to change course and really take advantage of this. Its the same 'Moneyball' approach that, obviously, paid off with Herrington but does not look repeatable anywhere else than center back and the same hesitancy to spend notable money in notable areas of need on or off the field. Smith is out there making the same sort of promises that he makes every summer, and based on what we've seen so far he's not backing them up with real moves that will pay off now. Quite simply Padraig Smith can not return in any sporting capacity if the club expects to be taken seriously by the fans and the rest of the league.
In April, the Colorado Rapids had their most profitable home game in club history. Today, they broke their record transfer fee by double. There is no excuse for leaving the scoreboard at DSGP as it is. It needs to be replaced in 2027.
Not just the scoreboard. There's no excuse for this team to still be a moneyballing-also ran in 2027.
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