Namli Out Long Term, Yapi Loaned

Its been pretty dead on the Rapids front during the international break other than Acosta's good second half against Mexico.  Today though we got some bad news.  The injury that Namli has been fighting was worse than we feared.  Last week he had surgery on his ankle in Amsterdam and will miss 12-16 weeks in recovery.  That puts his return, at earliest, right after Labor Day.  That's, at minimum 14 of the remaining 27 games this season.  Realistically probably more like 17 or so games before he could be back as a starter.

Obviously this is a significant loss for the team, especially with the likelihood of missing some of  Acosta/Bassett/Vines/Lewis to the Gold Cup and World Cup Qualifiers.  That said, the team has been performing well without him since he was injured in early May.  At this point 4 of our midfield 5 starters are essentially locked in with Price, Acosta, and Bassett running the triangle in the middle and Barrios holding down one wing.  That leaves Shinyashiki, Benezet, Lewis, and Galvan to battle for the other wing spot.

Namli was originally signed on a 2-year loan from FC Krasnodar, which will be up at the end of the season.  I think, for all intents and purposes, Namli's time in Colorado is done.  He may be able to bolster the team for the final run of games  (and any playoff run) this season but otherwise I don't see a string case to reinvest in him going forward.  While he clearly has skill, he just doesn't fit in this team at this point.  If we play him at the 10 then the only combination that works behind him is Price and Acosta, and even that group leaves us defensively vulnerable.  He could be an easy starter on the wing, but that's a lot of money to pay for a position that, as you can see, we're very deep at.  I think the best move is to see out the loan, thank him for his service, and let him go while we reinvest his salary in a position where we need more help.

I do wonder, if the team plays well over the next 3 months, if it makes sense to cut his loan off early and let him return to Russia in the summer window.  If that means we free up salary or an international spot it might be worth taking the hit to our depth.  Regardless, unlike Aigner or Gashi, I can't fault the FO too much for this move.  As I mentioned before, Namli can clearly play well enough to stand out in MLS.  Maybe not at "DP" level for sure, but he showed why the club signed him.  Most European players, especially top players, need time to settle in when they get to MLS and Namli never got that.  His 2020 was thrown into complete disarray due to COVID and now he's missing at least half of 2021 due to an injury.  Those aren't things the FO could have foreseen.  We never got to see Namli fully integrated into MLS.

While we're talking about the roster, Darren Yapi was loaned to the Springs today.  That's 8 players now loaned out getting time in Colorado Springs or Phoenix.

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.