Defense Inbound

With the transfer window closing tomorrow the Rapids made a move for the summer window today and are hinting at another move tomorrow, which sources have already revealed.

First the Rapids made the rumored acquisition of Loïc Williams official today.  Williams is a 24 year old Spanish central defender currently playing with Granada CG in the Spanish second division.  His father is DR Congolese so he would be eligible for them as well.  Williams is in his 5th year as a pro having played for Girona B (3rd division), Atletico Paso (4th division), Tenerife (2nd division), and Granada.  He's been a pretty regular starter the last two seasons for Granada and his career grown is that of a player on his way up.

Williams will join the Rapids in the summer window after the end of the Liga 2 season.  His contract is through the 2029-30 season with an club option for the 2030-31 season.  He will, obviously, take an international slot.  Transfermrkt values him at a million Euros and sources told Burgundy Wave this would be a TAM deal, but no details were officially released.

This move is a good sign that at least one of Herrington or holding is on their way out by the time the sprint season starts.  Holding will be out of contract after this season and there's interest in Herrington (more on that later this week).  I would be surprised if he came in and hit the ground running like the later but he appears to be solid depth for this season.

Later today Tom Bogert reported, and BW confirmed, the Rapids have made a deal with Toronto to bring in Canadian RB Kosi Thompson for $200K of GAM, with another $200K of GAM in performance goals.  Thompson is 23 years old and came through the TFC academy so he won't require an international slot as a homegrown player.  The reviews on Thompson from Toronto fans are mixed with the best being that he's a MLS spot starter and could grow into something a bit more.  It sounds like efforts to use him at center back were particularly disastrous.

This is clearly a depth move and may indicate Cannon's injury is worse than first thought.  Regardless its not a good look for Travis after stating last week at right back.  This is likely the move the Rapids are teasing for 10am tomorrow.  The window closes tomorrow afternoon/evening and 2 months ago when Bassett was sold Matt Wells challenged the fans and media to judge the club at the end of the window.  We'll do that tomorrow.

Trade Official, Rapids Get Draft Pick

Here's the official announcement, the Rapids get a conditional draft pick from Chicago in exchange for Wells Thompson.

There's a good deal of consternation in the on-line Rapids fanbase about wells asking to be traded to find playing time, but it doesn't bother me.  Look at what's happened this season:

*Wells was on pace for 727 minutes this year, his lowest season total of his career.
*In Pareja's 4-3-3 there really isn't a defensive winger spot, so Wells' minutes were coming as a central/d-mid (which he also played at under Gary Smith at times).
*Currently in that role the Rapids have LArentowicz and Thomas as starters, with Nane apparently moving past Thompson on the depth chart, based on recent play.
*Shane O'Neill was recently signed as the new young player and has already been announced as Larentowicz's primary backup, subbing in for him last game instead of Wells.

Its not a surprise that a player in that position who's already seen his playing time diminish and a younger player quickly moving up on him would want to move.  If anything the requested trade by Kimura earlier in the season would me more concerning, but even then Koz had (rightfully or not) been supplanted as the starter by Freeman and, in a contract year, Kosuke knew he needed to go somewhere he would start.

Obviously you don't like to see the locker room unsettled by trade requests, but both of these were cases where the players asking to be traded were being pushed out by better players.  That's certainly better than a Moor or Pickens, who are clearly starters, asking for a trade.

As to the return value of a conditional draft pick, its not ideal.  At the same time I never thought that highly of Thompson.  He had a role of coming off the bench as a defensive replacement to protect a lead, but beyond that he never seemed to fit anywhere else.  He didn't have the skills to  be a regular starter when everyone was healthy, and he didn't particularly add skill to the attack when subbed in while the team was losing (though in full credit to him, he tried to attack more than most players).  His tackling was always an adventure, he didn't earn the Holy Hacker nickname for nothing, but you knew that he'd give 100% while he was out there.  A (hopefully high) draft pick is probably a fair trade, if the Rapids can put it to good use by finding the next Cascio.

Wells To Chicago, But For What?

Lost Hooligan just tweeted this, so safe to say Wells Thompson is now a member of the Fire.  The question is, what did we get for him?

No Thompson Trade Yet

The team has confirmed that Wells has asked for a trade to find more playing time but states that no deal is complete yet.  Roster freeze date is Saturday, so safe bet he'll be traded sometime this week (I'm guessing an official announcement tomorrow).

Semi-Official: Wells Thompson Traded

Luis Zapata has tweeted good luck and well wishes to Wells Thompson this morning, so he's obviously going somewhere.  Rumors right now are that its Chicago.  More details when I get them.