Rapids Finish Biggest Transfer Window Ever

Technically we're still waiting the official announcement on one of these moves but the Rapids are teasing it for tomorrow morning so along with Bogert's reporting we're going to call that official.

First, the the bare bones recap of what the Rapids did in the 2026 summer window.

OUT:

• M Connor Ronan - Aberdeen (free)
• D Ian Murphy - San Diego (2nd round pick plus up to $100K GAM)
• D Lucas Herrington - Hull City ($17M + up to $6M + 15% sell-on)
• M Dante Sealy - Montreal ($1.4M GAM + up tp $300K GAM)
• F Rafa Navarro - St. Louis ($12M + up to $250K + sell-on)

IN:

• D Loic Williams - Granada (unknown fee, $1M-$3M)
• M Youssef Maziz - OH Leuven (free)
• F Sayed Abu Farkhi - Maccabi Tel Aviv ($6M)
• M Ibrahim Sadiq - AZ Alkmaar ($1.16M)
• M Morgan Whittaker - Middlesbrough ($10.7M + up to $3M)

Yeah, that's a lot.  From a pure position standpoint it was almost like for like but we swapped a defender for a midfielder.  From a talent level we probably increased, greatly.

Obviously we've already seen Williams and Maziz, so lets talk about the other trio.

I talked about Farkhi a week ago and my overall feel hasn't changed.  Long-term we'll probably look back and think the forward swap of Rafa for Farkhi helped us or worst case didn't hurt us long term.  St. Louis over paid for Rafa and we may have over paid for Farkhi but given his age that's likely to pan out in our favor.  But short-term I don't like leaving our forward position up to Farkhi (if he gets his visa) or Yapi in two weeks when we face St. Louis in the USOC semifinal.  If our lack off offense leads to us losing that game then Farkhi and the other signings will need to pay off big in 2027 and 27-28.  Farkhi was signed as a U-22 player.

Ibrahim Sadiq is the biggest "mystery" of these signings.  Matt Wells said tonight that he saw him when Spurs played against him in the Conference League as was impressed, thought he could have fit in London.  That said he only took a little over a million to sign and he only signed a 2 year deal, through 27-28.  That doesn't scream "cornerstone" signing.  Sadiq is a 26 year old winger, Ghanaian, and started his career ins Ghana's Right to Dream academy before moving to Denmark and then Sweden, finally ending up in the Netherlands with Alkmaar.  I would expect he would compete with Minoungou for playing time to start.  Sadiq will be on a TAM contract.

The last signing, and the one that isn't yet official, is Morgan Whittaker.  A 25 year old winger currently with Middlesbrough Whittaker has bounced around the Championship, playing for Derby County, Swansea City, going on loan to Lincoln City and Plymouth Argyle while there, moved to Plymouth Argyle, and then Middlesbrough 18 months ago.  The report on him is that he's streaky but when he's on he's one of the best attackers in the division.  His defense is questionable though.  This is somebody Wells has been tracking and pursuing for a while and Matt is all in on him despite those concerns.  I'd expect him to be an immediate starter, replacing Sealy, once his visa is done.  He plays as an inverted winger, as does Sadiq, so I'd expect to see a lot of cutting in to the middle.  He will, obviously, be a Designated Player.

All combined the Rapids generated 29M in cash plus another $1.4M in GAM in this window, and then turned around and spent somewhere between $19-$21M.  Remember, prior to last year's acquisition of Aaronson Colorado had never spent up to $3M on a single player!  If you add in the $8M in 2025 for Mihailovic and the $7.7M for Bombito in 2024, that's almost $50M alone.  That's probably enough to cover every fee the team has paid in its 31 year history.

Take a look at these two rosters.  The first is the opening day lineup in Seattle.  The second is the potential lineup once all the visas are processed.

I can't remember a season that's changed the roster this much by choice.  At this point even if healthy I would start Hansen over Steffen and eight of the other ten positions are pretty locked in on paper.  The only real battles are between Minoungou and Sadiq for the  second winger spot and between Yapi and Farkhi at forward.

Matt Wells had a media availability and it sounded like he has much more input on the roster than we saw during the Chris Armas and Robin Fraser eras.  This clearly shows that.  Many of these moves are players he had identified while at Spurs.  I don't know if its just because we have the money from the Herrington and Rafa deals or its because Kevin Demoff is more involved or if its Wells, but this is a different, more active, Front Office than we've ever seen.  Only time will tell if these were the right moves, but given the conservative, barely spending, strategy of the past really wasn't working I'm happy to see this new tack.

Sayed Abu Farkhi Signed, More To Come?

Just a quick post to acknowledge that the Sayed Abu Farkhi deal is done.  $6M transfer fee, signed today.  Braidon Nourse reports that he'll be on $800K salary and will have a clause that pays him part of his next transfer fee as an incentive.

I'm going to hold off on what this means for the lineup because Tom Bogert broke news of two more deal almost done today that are expected to get over the line before tomorrow's cut off.  English winger Morgan Whittaker from Middlesbrough and Ghanaian winger Ibrahim Sadiq from AZ Alkmaar are both apparently inbound.  Once the window closes tomorrow night we'll have a wrap-up of all of this and where we sit.

A Different Kind Of Game Preview, Of Course Its The RMC

As I was getting ready to put this game preview together Tom Bogert broke the news that the Rapids and St. Louis are close on a deal that would send Rafa Navarro to StL for about $12 million.  So close that he followed up that report with the possibility that it gets done before the game tomorrow.  If he's reporting that we're really at the brass tacks stage and the teams are just negotiating about the exact price and timing.  We have to assume Rafa won't be here by the Columbus game next week.

This is a ridiculous move that shows how unserious this club is, and its particularly trash if they agree to make the move before we play the Rocky Mountain Cup decider tomorrow night.  Honestly, Smith should be fired on the spot if he agrees to the deal before 10pm tomorrow night.  Quite simply you can't sell our best player hours before a rivalry match.  You just simply can't.  It shouldn't even be in consideration.

Really, the Rapids can't sell Rafa and be thought as a serious club who wants to win.  Going into this window we were (and are) two games away from our first major trophy in 16 years.  Then we sold our best player in Lucas Herrington.  Now that was a deal they could in no way pass up.  That's understandable.  The Front Office also gets credit for having Loic Williams queued up and ready to step in, and had him here as soon as he was able to so he could start when the season kicked back off.

This isn't the case here.  Farchi is rumored to sign, but isn't done yet.  The clock on his paperwork doesn't even start until that signing, and he can't practice with the team until the paperwork is done.  We are 19 days out from the USOC semifinal.  BEST case scenario Farchi gets his paperwork in time for the semifinal to be the first game he's available, with almost no practice time with the team.  Anyone else (who isn't American) is probably beyond the semifinal now.

So you're putting the team in a huge hole with the hope it pays off down the road.  In other words the same old Rapids.  But in this case it likely costs you a shot at a major trophy, something this team desperately needs.  You can't make this move, but they are clearly going to.  This is not a serious club.

So on to tomorrow's match.  The Rapids must win to retain the Rocky Mountain Cup.  Their only players out are Diop, Steffen, and KDP, all the long-term injuries.  We are in the best shape we've been in in some time, but we may not have Rafa.  Meanwhile FSL has 8 players out or questionable.  All the factors are on our side, but we might blow it up in the next 24 hours.  And we have certainly managed to self-destruct in thise games even when we're favored anyway.

Before this Rafa news I was thinking a 2-1 win but I was hesitant to go out on that limb given our history in the Rocky Mountain Cup.  If Rafa plays that's still possible.  If Rafa is sold before that, or held out due to the deal, then I think a 0-0 draw and a loss of the RMC is a real possibility.

Rapids Lose $500K In GAM And Other Questionable Roster Moves

Late this afternoon Tom Bogert reported, confirmed by Brenden Ploen and Burgundy Wave, that the Rapids are sending Dante Sealy back to Montreal for $1.4M in GAM plus up to $300K more in performance add-ons.  To refresh your memory Sealy was acquired from Montreal in December for $1.9M in GAM plus up to $600K additional in performance add-ons.

I think its safe to say few or none of those add-ons hit given Sealy's lack of perforance in Colorado, but its also not safe to count on any of the new add-ons hitting from his play in Montreal given how he's been playing.  So going with just the base trade amounts the Rapids spent $500K in GAM to rent Sealy for 8 months.  In that time he had 5 assists, 7 shots on target, and played a bit over 1000 minutes.  So essentially we paid about $500 of GAM per minute of play and $100K of GAM per assist.

Crest to Smith and the FO for cutting bait and not throwing good money after bad, but this was a horrible deal.  At the time it seemed like a move for a guy who might be better than average but a lot of money was spent for him.  Even Matt Doyle was questioning the payout.  SO we lost $500K and we burned 1000 minutes on a guy who was not a match for what we were doing.  Meanwhile Yapi is wasting away on the bench.  Yapi's not a winger, but he's still better than what Sealy was giving us.

Speaking of overpaying for talent, the other bit of new was yesterday where the on-again/off-again move for Sayed Abu Farchi appears to be on-again, this time for good, as reported by the same group as had the Sealy news.  Unfortunately, like Sealy, this seems to be an overpay for a winger.  $6M (dollars, not shekels) is the reported price.  Right now Transfermrkt, which is certainly not the end-all and be-all of valuation, lists him at a little over $2M in value.  

He is a 20 year old who's getting his first taste with the Israeli national team and clearly has some potential, but is only play so far has been in the Israeli league.  The league is ranked in the 40s worldwide (MLS is 10-20) and 24th in the UEFA coefficients.  In comparison Scotland is 19th in the coefficients and multiple teams in the SPL have bought USL talent in this window, because MLS talent is out of their price range (or they're not interested in going there unless its Celtic or Rangers).  Remember guys like Sam Nicholson and Connor Ronan are now playing in the SPL and neither of them would (or should) start in MLS.  And the Israeli league is worse than that.

Meanwhile this week Seattle just spent $6M to buy Dejan Joveljić from Kansas City.  Joveljić just turned 27 and scored 18 goals last season for KC, and has 8 for an all-time bad MLS side KC this season.  He has 60 goals in 158 league appearances over 5.5 years.  A clearly proven MLS striker, and he sold for the same price as Colorado is paying for Farchi.

I really hope he's the next Herrington, who takes a step up in league quality and matches it with his play.  I know he's had interest from other European teams.  But I can't look at this ant not think that in the best case scenario this is a move to win in the future, again.  Meanwhile we are literally 2 wins away from our first major trophy in 16 years.  We should be making moves to win now.  Even if this was a big swing for a proven name from outside the league we're down to under 3 weeks before the semi-final, if they're not in the league already (or American), they won't help us beat St. Louis as they likely won't have their paperwork.

There's a lot of talk with the Sealy move that the Rapids will be looking for another winger before the window closes on Wednesday.  The only real name we've heard is 30-year old Brazilian winger Everton, currently playing for Flamengo.  That would certainly be more of a win-now move, but probably not in time to help in the semi.  Also he's a left-sided winger, as is Farchi, so hopefully one of them would be comfortable on the right.

Rapids Sell Herrington For Record Amount

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.

As Burgundy Wave put it today:

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.

Enter Youssef Maziz

The Rapids are teasing the announcement of a new addition at 10am tomorrow.  First reported by Tom Bogert and confirmed by Brenden Ploen and Burgundy Wave, this is expected to be midfielder Youssef Maziz.

Maziz is a 28 year old (as of last month) attacking midfielder who's play is mainly as a chance creator, something the team desperately needs.  Born in France he is of Moroccan decent and has dual nationality.  His only international caps are two appearances with the French U-16 team.  He joined the Metz youth academy at 15 and stayed with the club working his way up to the first team in 2017 but spent most of his time on loan in the lower French leagues until he left Metz for Belgian side OH Leuven in 2023.  OHL has been a solid mid-table team in his time there.

Youssef is available on a free transfer as he's now out of contract and is expected to sign a TAM deal.  He'll be available as soon as his visa is processed and given the current government issues with visas we probably shouldn't expect that too quickly.  I would assume he would slot into the starting lineup as soon as he's available, so I'd expect the center trio to be Ojediran, Maziz, and Aaronson.

Obviously Maziz is an unknown to all of us, but the reality of being a Rapids fan is that we're not going to go out and assign a 'name' player.  Far too often that's meant we get a Namli or a Ilic, but occasionally we find a Rafa or a Herrington.  The positive sign with this signing is this isn't a player who doesn't fit the team (at least on paper) or is coming in at a established position.  This is somebody who fills a rea hole on the team, something our summer signings haven't always been able to say.  This doesn't turn us into a contender, but it seems like a move to push us that direction.

We Interrupt This Kit Blog With An Update On Rapids News

As we get close to MLS games starting again its time to get caught up on a couple of pieces of Rapids news before we finish out the kit part of the summer.

The most significant news, which still isn't high, is that Ian Murphy was traded to San Diego FC for Charlotte's second round pick next year that San Diego had acquired in a previous trade.  There's also $100K of GAM if performance metrics are meant and we keep part of his budget charge.

This is really shifting the deck chairs.  Murphy clearly wasn't in Wells' plans and a second round pick and a little GAM won't amount to much in the end.  But it frees up a roster spot.  Its also probably an indicator that Herrington isn't going anywhere this window as that would leave us awfully thin at CB.  This ends the 2024-2025 move of sending $1M plus $200K of performance incentive GAM to  Cinci for Awaziem and Murphy.  In the end that got us a few starts from Awaziem, a $1.7M transfer fee (a small portion of which went back to Cinci) and a 2nd round pick.  We didn't lose anything but I'm not sure how much we got out of that trade either.

Speaking of Herrington, the rumored list of teams interested in him has expanded to almost every major name in Europe.  Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Milan, etc.  Oddly not Arsenal though, given the shared owner.  Reports are that the Rapids have put a $25 million price tag on him and are asking for a 12-month loan back (through the sprint season) as part of the deal.  At this point he might be sold in this window, but I'd be a little surprised to see him leave in this window.  Safe bet that by this time next year he will no longer be in Commerce City though.

Two other roster moves, Manyoma has officially returned from loan with his purchase option declined, as previously reported.  Loic Williams joined the team in training a couple of weeks ago and played in the friendly Thursday night against FC Juarez.  He could be officially registered as a Rapids player yesterday and presumably was, so he should be eligible for next Wednesday's game.

Finally the FC Juarex game was a 1-1 draw after the first 90 minutes, then the teams agreed to play another 30 mintues that ended scoreless.  Both teams got very chippy during that extra time though, so much so that Rafa Navarro was sent off and the ref called the game before being convinced to restart it about 10 minutes later.  In case anyone is worried, red cards in friendlies are not carried over anywhere, though safe to say this matchup may not be repeated next summer.

Back to finish off the Rapids kits later this week before posting some of my favorite World Cup kits. 

Roster Details And New Food At The Dick

Game preview coming tonight or tomorrow morning, depending on how long this curling draw lasts.  (Yes I watch curling, curling is great).  Before we get to that though I was planning on giving the Rapids a shout out this week but I've been too busy to get to it until today.  Namely they're making some food changes for the better at the Dick.

The biggest one, in my opinion, is that GB's has been brought back inside of Dale's.  Losing them by raising the rent a few seasons ago was a massive unforced error and I'm glad the Rapids and KSE have figured out how to get them back.  Along with GB's Marie Empanada will be in the stadium too, which is a huge win.  Also Jake's Baby D Mini-Donuts are back, a personal favorite, and they've also got new BBQ and taco options.  Their debuting a new $5 menu tomorrow as well.  These are all great and very necessary food upgrades.

Of course no matter what they do there's no topping the Centennial 38 tailgate which remains undefeated and is back for its 20th season at the Dick (if you include its genesis as the Class VI tailgate).  We get the season started at 11am tomorrow morning!  No Fan Alone!

Also dropping today was the official MLS club profiles which updates all the roster classifications and contract lengths.  Obviously a lot of this doesn't change year over year, but there are some notable things to call out for the Rapids.

• Rafa Navarro apparently got his green card as he's not listed as an international
• Our 6 internationals for 6 slots are Fadal, Herrington, Holding, Manyoma, Ojediran, and Phillip
• We have two DP's - Navarro and Aaronson
• We have two U-22's - Ted KDP and Manyoma
• That means we have the flexibility to add 2 U-22s before the window closes or in the summer, or we could switch to the 3+3 model in the summer and add a DP and a U-22 (Smith has been pretty clear he prefers the 2+4 model)
• Beaudry, Fadal, and Phillip are listed as unavailable - on loan.  We know Beaudry is on loan, Fadal is still on the injury report but may be on loan to R2.  Phillip I assume is on loan to R2
• Manyoma is listed as on loan but Miguel Navarro is not.  This could just be an oversight though as I'd be surprised if we already exercised his buy clause
• Two players are out of contract with no options at the end of the season (not counting our two loanees), Yapi and Holding.  I wouldn't be surprised to see Holding allowed to walk, but we have to get Yapi a new contract ASAP.
• Nine other players are on option years in 2027, most notably Steffen, Ronan, and Sealy.  Lots of room to change this roster for Wells after one season should he want to.

My biggest take away though is how thin this roster is.  We only have the minimum 16 senior roster players and only 27 players total.  We only have 3 central midfielders and 3 wingers on the senior roster.  With two U-22 slots open I really hope some work is going to be resolved before the window closes in late March.

International Signing Rankings, 2026 Version

This is the third time I've gone through this exercise, which originally started as a way to address how well the Rapids have done in their international scouting.  the rules were simple, any player who came to the Rapids from somewhere other than a team in the U.S. or Canada, including college/high school.  Essentially players that the Rapids had to find, not players that would have been on multiple radars or part of systems designed to expose them to MLS teams.  This includes returning Americans.

I separated them into 5 categories, and here's the list as of this time 2 years ago.  The * by the name means we'll be revaluating them in this column.

Group 1: The question marks, because we haven't seen them yet:

*Djordje Mihailović

*Zach Steffen

*Sidnei Tavares

*Sam Vines

Group 2:  The failures, no sugar-coating it, these were bad to horrible signings:

Stefan Aigner

Yannick Boli

Joe Mason

Nicolas Benezet

Younes Namli

Max

Alex Gersbach

Felipe Gutiérrez

Marko Ilic

*Rafael Navarro

Sam Nicholson

Group 3: Replacement level MLS players or overpaid for their decent production:

Giles Barnes

Johan Blomberg

Tommy Smith

Edgar Castillo

Lucas Esteves

Braian Galvan

Collen Warner

Andreas Maxso

Group 4: Solid contributing players worthy of the international spot (eventually):

Danny Wilson

Connor Ronan

Group 5: Top signings:

Jack Price

William Yarbrough

Now onto the ten new players and the re-evaluation of the five above.

Group 1: The question marks, because we haven't seen them yet:

Lucas Herrington, Miguel Navarro, Hamzet Ojediran,  - 2026 Winter - Too soon to have seen them.

Alexis Manyoma - 2025 Summer - Only played 38 minutes, not enough to go on

Dauoda Amadou, Ali Fadal - 2025 Winter - Technically Amadou was signed from Rapids 2 but his R2 contract included an automatic signing by the first-team.  Neither of them have had time with teh first-team (10 minutes for Amadou) but time is running out to show something.

Group 2:  The failures, no sugar-coating it, these were bad to horrible signings:

Lamine Diack - 2024 Winter - Bring in a guy on a TAM contract, on loan, and then never play him.  He had 16 minutes over 4 appearances before the loan ended.  I know the excuse was that his visa took so long he never integrated with the team, but that's why you make these moves early enough to queue up all of that work, not 3 weeks before the start of the season.

Sidnei Tavares - 2023 Summer - Last time I wrote:

5 appearances and 300 minutes on a last placed team isn't really enough to judge, but its not looking good

About 6 weeks later he was released before the start of the 2024 season.  Unlike Navarro, who came in on loan at the same time, Tavares was another d-mid who could not crack the starting lineup.  Of all places he's ended up in Blackburn where he got 11 appearances early but has been out since Christmas due to a knee injury.

Sam Vines - 2024 Winter - Yeah, its killing me to list him in this category, but I don't see how I can justify putting him anywhere else.  After a decent 2024 Sammy fell off a cliff in 2025, making only 13 starts.  We've now brought in Miguel Navarro on loan to provide competition for his role this season, which suggests that his preseason under Wells hasn't been great either.  We need a lot more out of a guy we're spending $900K on.

Group 3: Replacement level MLS players or overpaid for their decent production:

Paxten Aaronson - 2025 Summer - Aaronson won't stay in this category.  Either he'll find his footing and move up to 4, or he won't and he'll become a 2.  Right now though he was fine in the final group of 2025 games but so far hasn't shown his $8 million in value.

Reggie Cannon - 2024 Summer - Cannon does everything decent as a MLS defender, but doesn't excel at anything.  That's fine for a middle of the roster $500K guy, but its disappointing for a guy making $750K and with National Team experience.  When we have a couple of young guys on the back line you hope for more from somebody as experienced as Cannon.

Rob Holding - 2025 Summer - Another guy who could move out of this category after 6 starts last season.  We saw just enough of him that I couldn't put him in Group 1 but so far he hasn't been amazing and had one notable mistake late in the season.  He's at $1.2M so expectations are high.

Group 4: Solid contributing players worthy of the international spot (eventually):

Rafael Navarro - 2023 Summer - Navarro only went out and challenged Rubio's goal-scoring record in 2024.  The reason he's not in Group 5 is that we need to see what he can do without Mihailovic setting him up.  He may also be sold before the end of the 2025 season.  If he puts in another 12+ goal scoring season this year and is then sold for a profit it would be hard not to put him in Group 5.

Zack Steffen - 2024 Winter - His 2024 was a bit rough but a great 2025 puts him in this category.  If he can keep that up he'll be a key part of whatever success we have in 2026.  Obviously he doesn't take an international slot but as one of four players still on the roster making 7 figures he needs to keep his high level.

Group 5: Top signings:

Djordje Mihailovic - 2024 Winter - Set the team single-season goal involvement record, represented the U.S. and the Rapids in the Paris Olympics, and was sold to Toronto for a record amount.  I know he "asked out" but I'm not convinced we've herd the full story there.  That's really the only black mark against him in his time here.  He is, arguably, our best ever DP signing.

We are now up to 37 international singings in 18 windows since Padraig Smith took over.  They break down like:

Group 1: 6

Group 2: 13

Group 3: 11

Group 4: 4

Group 5: 3

Our failure rate has dropped from 40% two years ago to 35% now, which suggests that our recent signings have been better.  Certainly we've added Navarro, Steffen, and Mihailovic to the success categories where the prior additions to those categories were only Ronan and Maxso and both of them barely cleared the bar.  Still we need guys like Herrington and Ojediran to be successes if we're going to fully turn this around.

Rapids Announce Year End Roster Decisions

Colorado announced their player decisions today.

Options exercised: Nico Hansen, Jackson Travis, Darren Yapi

Options declined: Daouda Amadou, Sam Bassett, Michael Edwards, Nate Jones, Andreas Maxsø, Rafael Santos

Free agents: Calvin Harris, Oliver Larraz

The option to purchase Noah Cobb has to be exercised by December 15th.

The Rapids are negotiating new contracts with Amadou, Harris, Larraz, and Santos.  Bassett, Edwards, Jones, and Maxso will not be returning in 2026.

Looking back at my review of the upcoming decisions most of this was expected. The two ones I missed on were Santos and Bassett.

I was glad to see we are negotiating with Santos because letting him walk would be crazy.  Hw only started 5 games yet was our best left back of the season.  Either we want him back at a lower number, but he was only on $400K, or we're giving him a longer, better contract and by passing on his option we're smoothing out negotiations so he gets his raise right away instead in a mid-year negotiation.

While Sam Bassett didn't light the world on fire he was cheap and Cole clearly liked playing with his brother.  I figured those two factors would lead to him coming back next season.  You have to wonder if Sam and people in his orbit have decided he'll do better somewhere other than the Rapids.

Other than those two most of these were obvious or we didn't have enough information to evaluate.  I'm hoping Santos gets signed quickly and I would be fine with Larraz and Harris coming back for depth but its not a huge loss if they leave.  Amadou is a long-term project.  Hansen and Yapi were absolute no brainers to keep and Travis is good depth if we can't get Santos signed.

We did release three centerbacks today, leaving us Holding and Murphy as true centerbacks from this year, plus the incoming Herrington.  Cannon and Rosenberry can both play there if needed too.  I would expect we would exercise Cobb's purchase option given that, plus be looking for another starter/top sub in the offseason.  I don't think a back pair made up of Holding/Cobb/Murphy/Herrington is going to get it done over 34 games.

The next major date for the Rapids is Dec. 10th and 11th when free agency opens and then the first stage of the reentry draft.

Player Decisions, 2025

Despite my travel and having bigger news like the press conference and Armas I'm still getting my player decisions out before the Front Office does.  We're going to start with the players they actually have to make a decision on, then I'll add a couple of suggestions on players who are already under contract for 2026.  Salary numbers are guaranteed 2025 salary.

Andreas Maxso ($1.4M) - As already announced Maxso won't be back next season.  That's the right call.  We probably should have sold him last offseason if there was a real offer from the Middle East.  He was a solid but unspectacular MLS center back that never lived up to his original DP status or his highest paid TAM player on the team status after he was bought down.

Noah Cobb ($109K) - Burgundy Wave has reported the price to make his loan permanent is $500K in GAM.  Do it.  There's enough there to be worth taking that shot on him.  I don't expect him to be the starter next season but the first option off the bench or possibly the 3rd starter in a 3-man back line.

Calvin Harris ($152K) - One of only two players on the roster that the club has no option on for 2026.  During the press conference Smith suggested multiple free agents would be exploring other options so I have to assume Harris is looking.  I'd be fine if we threw $300K or so at him to bring him back but I'm also ok if he walks.  None of our wingers impressed this year.

Oli Larraz ($131K) - The other free agent on the roster.  We know he's looking in Europe.  I like Oli as a good backup on the bench and I thought he was the better of the three headed Atencio/Ronan/Larraz trio in the middle, but none of them really earned a starting role.  I'd like to see us give him $300-$400K to be that bench option but I can't blame him if he finds a spot in Europe and takes his shot.

Rafael Santos ($401K) - Pick up his 2026 option.  He'll be in a contract year next season, make it clear the LB spot is his to win, and a new contract is available if he does.

Daouda Amadou ($81K) - No idea.  We barely saw anything of him.  But at that price picking up his 2026 option won't hurt us.

Sam Bassett ($81K) - Yeah, give the homegrown another year by picking up his option, if for no other reason than to keep Cole happy.

Nico Hansen ($81K) - Picking up his option is the easiest call on this list.  We have an option for 2027 too, so he can take 2026 to clearly win the backup job and see if he has potential to take over for Steffen in the future.

Jackson Travis ($107K) - I don't think there's a wrong decision here.  If you think there's real potential, pick up the option and bring him back.  If you think that Santos and Vines are going to hold down LB for the next 2-3 seasons then cut him loose.

Darren Yapi ($115K) - Yes, easy option decision.  I don't think he's a great starter in a 1-striker system, but as an option off the bench or playing off Navarro as a second striker he's got real value.

Nate Jones ($81K) - Spent all year on loan so nobody saw him.  Reports are the coaches were happy with what he did in Vegas.  As a fellow Husky I have to support picking up his option.  :D

Eleven decisions to make.  Cobb, Santos, Hansen, and Yapi should be easy decisions.  Maxso was an easy decision to let walk.  Amadou, Bassett, Travis, and Jones are low-risk decisions regardless of how they go.  The two tricky ones will be Harris and Larraz if they decide they want to stay.

There are seven players entering the last guaranteed year on their contracts, which makes them the easiest to buyout in the offseason if we want to.  Holding, Steffen, Murphy, Ronan, Fadal, Frederick, and Stewart-Baynes.  I think Steffen and Holding are the only two that are clearly in the 2026 plans.  Murphy and Ronan are making $400-$500K so buying them out is a bit more expensive, I'd expect them both to be back unless they get a better offer elsewhere and we can reduce that buyout.  Fadal, Frederick, and KSB would be easier to cut if we need the roster slot.

Everyone else has at least two years left and we should expect to be part of the 2026 roster unless an offer comes in for them.  That does mean we need to get more out of the likes of Atencio, Cannon, and Vines to justify the roster and salary cap they're taking up.

The last major decision won't be until summer, but the Alexis Manyoma loan is up on July 21st and Burgundy Wave has reported its a $2M purchase option on him.  While he looked good in his limited minutes at the end of the season there wasn't enough there to justify that yet.  We'll need to see a lot more in the early months of 2026.

On to 2026

Well, the season ended about how I predicted.  Dallas and FSL getting in, us missing out.  For a brief 2 minutes in the second half the Rapids were in a playoff spot, only to once again give out a late goal and only get 1 point.  Story of the season really.

Back on September 12th with 5 games left I pegged the target as 42 points.  Colorado reached 41 points and lost out on the tiebreaker (twice).  42 was the necessary total.  44 would have gotten us a home wild-card game.  For comparison the 9th placed team the last 6 years (ignoring the 2020 COVID mess) has gotten 42-47 points.  The last time the line was 41 was in 2018 when there were only 24 teams.  That means there were 102 less games played in the league, and 200-300 less points distributed.  Any team that failed to make the playoffs in the West this year stunk.

Looking at how Colorado failed to reach the promised land, take a look at this.  This is the point totals of the 4 teams in contention this week against the other 7 teams in the bottom half of the West.

• Dallas: 25
• FSL: 24
• San Jose: 21
• Colorado: 18

No coincidence that order is the order the four teams finished in.  Dropping points against Kansas City, the Galaxy, Dallas, and FSL, all in the last 7 games of the season, is what killed us.

The reality is though, whichever one of these four teams that would have gotten through tomorrow night's wild-card game is just a sacrifice to San Diego in the first round.  Really none of these teams deserved a playoff spot.

So, forward to 2026.  The biggest question looming over the team is will the mini-donuts be back again next season?  No, that's not it.  Its will Chris Armas be back.  For our purposes though, the question is, should Armas be back?

This is a tough call.  Armas clearly understands the importance of culture and even late into the second half on Saturday the players were playing hard and weren't giving up.  Those are points in his favor, as is the fact that he knows the reality of coaching in Colorado and what the challenge is, as well as a knowledge of the current roster.

Stacked against him are the results.  Armas was brought in after Fraser was fired.  Over the course of Robin's time here he averaged 1.4 PPG.  That was considered not good enough and we moved on (to be fair, it was clear Fraser had lost the locker room).  Armas, in his two seasons, has averaged 1.34 PPG.  Not an improvement over Fraser.  The difference is about 2 points a season, exactly what we missed the playoffs by.

There's also Armas' lineups and tactics.  His defensive strategies are awful.  Over the last two seasons the Rapids have given up 116 goals, despite having multiple TAM players on the back line.  The only other two years that we gave up that many goals were the two years that started with Anthony Hudson in charge.  Not somebody you want to be compared to.  There's also the problem of ending the season regularly playing Cole Bassett, arguably our best midfielder after Mihailovic left, out of position.  Cole is not a left winger, he's best as a 8.  Paxton Aaronson also talked after Saturday's game how he's more used to playing the 6/8 role, not the 10.  These are very questionable choices in must win games.

The final piece to this puzzle is Padraig Smith.  He's fired three coaches (Mastroeni, Hudson, Fraser) and hired their replacements, with a significant lack of success.  While he wouldn't have to fire Armas, since Chris is out of contract, does he deserve a chance to hire a fourth coach?  Its hard to say he does.  But is that a good reason to keep a coach that seems to be spinning his wheels a bit?

In the end I think I come down on the side of moving on from Armas.  While the intangibles he brings are important, what matters is results and he's just not getting them.  While I'm loathe at this point to have Smith take another run at a coach I don't see us succeeding next season with Armas in charge.  Since that's the only significant change we are likely able to make this offseason, we have to make it.  In reality though, until there are changes above the coach in the Front Office, namely getting a real, experienced, MLS GM in place, the decision on the coach is not likely to matter much.  Short of getting a Jim Curtain or the like Smith's failed roster building strategy will drive results more than any coaching decision.

I have some business travel coming up so I may be quiet for a bit but I will be back to talk about roster decisions and focuses for next season.  I'm going to try to get the roster decisions in this week before I leave but we'll see.  And I'll tale my lumps reviewing my predictions for 2025 next month once I'm home.

Crow Eaten, FO Deserves Kudos

17 days ago when Djordje Mihailovic was sold I went off on the Front Office.  Well, my predictions for the immediate future of this team were wrong.  Its only fair I return to take my lumps and to give the Front Office the plaudits they deserve now that the window has closed (still open for 90 minutes as I write this but its clear they're done).

In this window the Rapids sold Awaziem and Mihailovic, two starters, for a smidge under $9M.  (Djordje gets 10% of any inter-league sale so the $8M they got for him is actually $800K to Djordje and $7.2M to the club).  They then turned around and dropped $8.1M+ on Paxten Aaronson to replace Mihailovic and brought in Rob Holding on a free to replace Awaziem.  On top of that they brought in CB Noah Cobb and W Alexis Manyoma on loan-to-buy deals, traded for LB Rafael Santos, and got the long-rumored CB Lucas Herrington over the line for next season (his contract starts in January).

By the standards of the Rapids that's a great summer transfer window.  Compare that to summer of 2022 when we traded Mark-Anthony Kaye to Toronto to open the window and Smith promised an active window, only for the sole move to be signing Felipe Gutierrez on a short-term loan.  Even by overall MLS standards this is a good window, especially for a team with the reputation in the league Colorado has.

Combine that with the fact that since Djordje was traded the team has won both league games and forced Cruz Azul to penalties without him (they lost to Tijuana without him, but that was the day before the sale was announced).  That includes a big win in Minnesota and has put them in a solid place for a playoff run with 4 games against teams below them in the standings followed by two tough home games sandwiched around our annual trip to Sandy.  The vibes are suddenly much better in Commerce City than they were 2.5 weeks ago.

Breaking down my initial feedback on the players:

Aaronson - Obviously the big move of the window.  A 7 million Euro/8.1 million dollar deal with 1.5 Euros of add-ons.  Smashing the transfer record for the team, doubling what they paid for Navarro when you include the loan fee.  Plus signing him to a 5-year DP contract through 2030, the 21 year old midfielder will be the cornerstone of the this team for the next few years, unless he plays well enough to go back to Europe and make the Rapids some money.  IMO Aaronson has a higher ceiling than Mihailovic did, but he's more raw and has a lower floor (at least at the moment).  We're going to need to bring him along with deliberate moves that build a team to support what he does well.  He's certainly going to turn this team even more into a high press.

Alongside what the player can do, the Front Office going out and making this move after the Mihailovic move sends a statement to the fans.  Reports tonight were that the Aaronson deal only started once Djordje was sold, he wasn't initially on the radar this window.  Never have we seen Smith and Taylor move this fast for this type of signing.  Is it a one off?  I don't know, but it was a sorely needed move to convince the fan base (including myself) it wasn't going to be the same old same old from this club.  Many national writers are suggesting this could be the dawn of a new era of the Rapids but I'm not going that far yet.

Holding - An interesting signing that you have to think the Arsenal relationship played into.  After leaving Kroenke's other club Holding went to Palace where he had an immediate falling out with the manager along with injuries.  If he can overcome those and buy into what Armas is doing we might have a PL center back for 1.5 years.  At 31 I expect this to be a one and done contract to get us over the hump to when our other new CB's are ready to take over as starters.  Holding finally has his visa and will be available in LA this weekend.

Cobb - The one new addition we've actually seen play so far, and he's looked good in the 3-back system we're using.  Atlanta fans are pretty upset that they could lose him and if he keeps playing like this I have to assume we'll exercise the option to buy.  I'm not yet ready to anoint him a 2026 starter but he looks like at worst a good 3rd CB for the team.

Manyoma - This biggest question mark of our signings.  A 22 year old (older than Aaronson!) Colombian winger that has a good pedigree coming from Estuidiantes and the Colombian U20s, but without the stats to back it up. When he looked to be our big signing with a possible DP label there was some concern, but as a U-22 and on a loan to buy option I'm willing to give it some time.  No report if his visa is in so he can be available this weekend.

Santos - A regular starter at LB for Orlando the last two years he's found himself on the bench this season as formation changes and other signings had him not as high in the pecking order.  Hopefully he's able to solidify the position in a way we haven't seen since Vines left for Europe.  At worse he can be a stalking horse for Vines or Travis to step up and lock down the position themselves.  A lot will depend on if we continue with the 3 CB/2 wingback formation or revert to the more traditional back 4 that would likely suit Santos more than Vines.

Herrington - Colorado had been linked with the Australian youth international this past offseason and were just waiting for his contract at Brisbane Roar to run down.  Reports are that Roar got a club-record fee for him, and their prior record was about $650K so assume we paid at most $1M and probably less.  At 18 he's clearly not going to be a starter next February, but i expect him to be an option off the bench while maybe playing with Rapids 2 a bit.

One roster note, Josh Atencio has been bought down from a U-22 player, which allows us to stick with 3 DPs (Navarro, Aaronson, and the currently unsigned Cabral) and 3 U-22 players (Bassett, KDP, and Manyoma).  Reports are that Cabral is expected to sign soon which would free up his DP slot, but the Rapids had to be roster compliant to sign Aaronson, so thus the need to buy down Atencio with GAM.

If I'm picky around the edges there are a couple things that weren't perfect about this window.  We still need a backup striker, the visas are taking far too long (Son got his in two days), etc.  So I might call this window an A-.  But its the strongest Rapids summer window we've seen in a long time, maybe ever.  So once again, kudos to the Front Office.  I will enjoy my crow sandwich the rest of the season.

Rapids Sell Mihailović, Punt 2025 (and 2026?).

I don't know.  This might be it for me.  I'm not sure its worth it anymore.

Tonight was going to be a quick recap of the Tijuana loss last night.  I even said on socials yesterday that:

Tonight's game showed what we all know.  This team has questionable depth at best and unless all the starters are clicking they are completely reliant on Mihalovic to do anything in the attack.  This team suffers not due to coaching but due to stunningly terrible roster construction.

The reason Djordje missed the game was reported as 'personal reasons' and today we found out what those reasons were.  He asked out and the Rapids are selling him to Toronto for $8 million in cash, plus another million in possible peformance add-ons, and keeping a sell-on percentage.  This has been confirmed by multiple local and national outlets, but Bogert had it first.

Further information from Burgundy Wave suggests that Djordje was unhappy with the team ambition and wanted a bigger contract.  Right off the bat the CBA calls for players to get 10% of any sale price fir intra-league sales so he's going to make $800K on the sale and reports are that he is already in talks with Toronto for a contract extension.  Toronto reportedly made two offers the team turned down before Djordje went to the Front Office and asked them to accept an offer.  They tried multiple times to talk him out of it but his decision was made.

I spent most of the day seething over this.  I am a bit mad at Mihailovic for forcing this midseason but most of my anger is reserved for the Front Office who once again has fumbled the ball and in a bigger way than perhaps ever before.  DM is, arguably, the best on-field signing this club has ever made.  Certainly as a straight signing (Balboa was a MLS league start signing and Pablo came out of the expansion draft, Valderrama was a trade) and we just let him go for the same price we got for Bombito last year.  A kid that got 25 pro starts before being sold and who's only 17 months younger than Djordje.

But the amount really doesn't matter.  What the problem is is once again the Front Office has overpromised, underdelivered, and refuses to substantially make any changes to how they're running the team.  They're happy to be MLS's junk drawer where the excess players that nobody wants but are too valuable to just cut goes, and then when there becomes a need for that player the league (or others) opens the drawer and pulls it out to use and the Rapids are left holding the bag.

This is now Awaziem and Mihailovic that have asked out in the last month, and there's a rumor that Fernandez was disgruntled earlier this season which may have led to the trade to Portland.  Clearly something is rotten in Commerce City.

Let me put it plainly:

Padraig Smith and Fran Taylor need to make a public statement this week about what's going on and what the plan is.  And not one couched in marketing speak but a genuine "yeah, this isn't great, we screwed up, but here's what we're doing" explanation.

The Rapids have 9 games left this season (plus playing out the string with Cruz Azul on Thursday).  Without our main offensive engine I think its safe to say we can write off the two Minnesota games and the LAFC game.  And given how things usually go in Sandy we can kiss that game and the RMC goodbye.  That leaves 5 games against Atlanta, Galaxy, SKC, Houston, and Dallas.  We likely need 12-13 points in those games just to make the playoffs.  I don't see how we get there unless Smith pulls a rabbit out of his hat the likes of which we've never seen in this window.

So that puts us into 2026.  Between the Bombito, Awaziem, and Mihailovic sales, and subtracting out the money we used to get Awazioem and Atencio, plus a bit for Cinci's take on the Awaziem deal, we're looking at a kitty of something around $14M-$14.5M the club should have to rebuild (again).  Oh and they have to decide if they're brining Armas back (and he has to decide if he wants to come back).

With that money they need, at minimum, two MLS caliber starting center backs (since Maxso is almost certainly gone), a better left back, an offensive engine, probably a winger upgrade, and a whiole lot fo depth.  Braidon Nourse at the Post is already hearing that the plan is to spend the Djordje money on 3-4 different players.  Breaking $7.2M down three to four ways means we're looking at spending less than $2M a player on average, which sure looks like Smith's failed "buy kids with "potential" and hope they come good" strategy as opposed to buying a couple of guys that can help us win now.

At this point, why should any of us bother being fans?  Its clear winning is not important to this organization.  They want to develop players, make some money, and repeat.  If they get lucky every 3-4 seasons and make a decent Cup or playoff run, that's gravy.  But they're never really going to compete in this league despite what Smith and his "Rapids Way" might claim.

I don't know.  I might be done.  Certainly there will be no Cruz Azul coverage, we'll see if I have anything for Minnesota on Sunday, or the rest of the season.

Rapids Loan Cobb, Agree With Holding?

Two quick player updates in this post with my Philly game preview immediately following.  Colorado has taken Atlanta United centerback Noah Cobb on loan for the rest of the season with an option to buy him.  Atlanta will get $100K GAM   Cobb is 20 years old and came up through Altanta's academy.  He's also played for the U.S. U-20 team.  He's made 3 starts and 13 appearances for the Five Stripes this season after 13 starts and 19 appearances last season.

Cobb has some really good passing instincts and is good in the air.  I wouldn't expect to see him starting regularly this season but it gives us some depth with Awaztiem gone.  He's not a direct replacement though. for that we're still looking at Rob Holding.

Speaking of, EFL Analysis is reporting that the Rapids and Holding have come to terms and he'll be flying in for his physical this weekend.  That has yet to be confirmed by anyone else yet, but they also report it would be a free transfer.  I also found out today that Holding's girlfriend is not an American, as I had earlier heard, but Icelandic striker Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir, who recently signed with Angel City FC of the NWSL.  So that's one draw for him to the States.  Denver is a lot closer to LA than London.

Fernandez Traded To Portland

This afternoon Tom Bogert broke the story that Omir Fernandez was being traded to Portland, later confirmed by the Rapids in a press release.  The return was $200K in GAM plus up to another $50K in GAM based on performance this season.

This is a bit surprising only in that in our lack of successful wingers Fernandez seemed to be one of the ones that could help from time to time.  The reality though is that in his season+ here he never really locked down a starting spot or was regularly successful off the bench.  To be fair, none of our wingers have managed to mesh well with the Rafa/Djordje/Bassett core, other than the hot streak Cabral got on last season.  So from an immediate impact the biggest issue is that its one less body in the rotation but I don't think we lose a whole lot.  $200K is a bit low for a 26 year old semi-starter in this league, but again he's on his third team in MLS and hasn't been consistently productive.

The bigger question is what this does to our lineup going forward.  We're down to just 5 real wingers.  Cabral, Kimani Stewart-Baynes, Calvin Harris, and Ted Ku-DiPietro (Alex Harris, Cole, or Djordje could play wing as well).  If we stick with our 4-5-1/4-3-3 two of those guys would have to start every game.  KDP seems like an easy choice but after that it gets questionable.  Could this mean a further shift to the 4-2-2-2- we saw against San Diego last week?  If so, where does KDP, who was a big offseason signing, fit in?  Push him or Mihailovic up front with Rafa?  Thanks to Burgundy Wave we know this now gives us about $450K in GAM.  Is there another move coming before the window closes on Wednesday?

Rapids Sign Fadal, New Kit Leaks

An odd Saturday press release from the team as they announced the signing of Ghanaian-born midfielder Ali Fadal from Spanish-side Valencia.  This rumor leaked late in the week but it was hard to evaluate because Fadal has had an up and down career so far.  He was signed by Valencia in 2023 and made his first appearance for them that year, but that's the only appearance he had with the first team.  He suffered an injury that set him back and he's been playing with their B team in the 4th division most recently.  Fadal was considered one of the best youth prospects in Ghana so this is a classic Padraig Smith prospect signing.

He's signed to a two year deal with two years of club options after that.  Braidon Nourse from the Denver Post is reporting we're trading an international slot to the Crew for GAM and their first round draft pick next year (which would give us 4 first round picks).  Combined with this signing that would leave the Rapids with no open international slots, so any further additions would have to be domestic.  At this point though I expect we're largely done for the off/preseason.

The other bit of news today is that FootyHeadlines.com dropped a leak of our new away shirt:

This is obviously not a press release quality image, in fact is probably a FIFA video game image (that's where these things seem to leak).  I expect the actual shirt to be mint green with darker green spots.  Even saying that though this is underwhelming.  I fear its going to look like a light green shirt a painter was wearing while working.  And I've long been of the opinion that you don't mess with the badge unless you have a standard secondary badge or you absolutely nail it (Blackburn currently falls into both these categories).  The Rapids don't have a standard secondary badge they use and this badge is not great IMO.  Plus that Adidas logo looks huge for some reason.

The good news is that MLS kits are grossly overpriced and I see no reason to spend money on this one.

Finally, Some News.

Sorry I've been quiet here but nothing's been going on.  We traded an international slot for some GAM and got Toronto's 1st round pick next year so they could hire Neil Emblen and Jase Kim but otherwise even the couple of rumors that popped up have been pretty weak.

Two preseason matches ended in a 2-2 draw (goals from Josh Copeland and Sam Bassett, with Cole setting up his younger brother) and a 1-1 draw (goal by Rafa).  too soon to really draw any lineup conclusions from those.

Today though we got a bit of news.  Both Abe Rodriguez and John Berner have left camp in Mexico now that Steffen and Beaudry are back from their various National Team duties.  We'll see if they show up in Rapids 2 camp or not (which I just found out from Burgundy Wave is in Orlando).  Also Josh Copeland, Charlie Harper and Matthew Senanou have also left camp to join back up with Rapids 2.

That leaves Academy players Zack Campagnolo (GK) and Noah Strellnauer (M) in camp along with Rapids 2 players Nicolas Defreitas-Hansen (GK), Anderson Rosa (D)< and Sydney Wathuta (F).  No other unsigned players are currently in camp and Kevin Cabral has not arrived yet from working on his green card.

First game is 3 weeks from Wednesday when we host LAFC in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Off To Mexico With Some Old And New Faces

Colorado left for preseason camp in Mexico today and gave all of us a roster to work with while they're there.  There are three names not on the roster for good reason.  Zack Steffen is at the Nats camp and Adam Beaudry is at the U-20 camp (the teams trained together today).  Kevin Cabral is back in France finalizing his green card and will join the team when that's done and he no longer takes up an international slot.  Other than that all the expected names were on the plane.

They were joined by some old and new names, some under new contracts and some trying to earn a contract.

GOALKEEPERS: John Berner (Trialist), Zack Campagnolo (Rapids Academy), Nicolas Defreitas-Hansen (Rapids 2), Abraham Rodriguez (Trialist)  

DEFENDERS: Chidozie Awaziem, Reggie Cannon, Daniel Chacón, Michael Edwards, Nate Jones, Andreas Maxsø, Ian Murphy, Anderson Rosa (Rapids 2), Keegan Rosenberry, Matthew Senanou, Jackson Travis, Sam Vines  

MIDFIELDERS: Daouda Amadou, Cole Bassett, Sam Bassett, Josh Copeland (Rapids 2), Omir Fernandez, Wayne Frederick, Oliver Larraz, Djordje Mihailovic, Connor Ronan, Noah Strellnauer (Rapids Academy) 

FORWARDS: Alex Harris, Calvin Harris, Rafael Navarro, Kimani Stewart-Baynes, Darren Yapi 

Michael Edwards signed a new deal for 2025 yesterday with an option for 2026.  Rosa was a 2024 SuperDraft pick who went back to college for a year and has now signed a deal with Rapids 2, while Copeland signed with R2 coming out of this year's draft.  Alex Harris was our top pick in this year's draft and was already signed to a Generation Adidas deal prior to being picked.

We've got a couple of former keepers trying to catch on as the third keeper while Steffen and Beaudry are away.  Rodriguez is back after spending last year with Toronto 2 and John Berner makes his return have 7 seasons.  In between he played for Phoenix, Oklahoma City, Saint Louis, Memphis, Huntsville, ant Atlanta 2.

Guys like Campagnolo, Defreitas-Hansen, Rosa, Copeland, and Strellnauer are on the trip to get experience, something the Rapids regularly do with their young Academy and R2 players.  Senanou was our second highest pick in the first round this year and is hoping to make the team.

Nate Jones is on the trip but Tom Bogert is reporting that a deal has been worked out for him to be loaned to the Las Vegas Lights for the season once the USL team gets started for the year.

Awaziem, Cannon, and Murphy, all defenders, are the only experienced additions to the team since roughly this time last season.  While defense was the weaker side of the ball in 2024 adding two central defenders (after selling one in Bombito) and a versatile defender in Cannon is barely enough to trad water.  Its not enough to get better.  We appear to be betting everything that a highly-rated homegrown (S. Bassett), a Generation Adidas player (A. Harris), and a whole bunch of young guys will find some rookie magic.

What's Better Than One Bassett? Two Bassetts!

Yesterday the Rapids made official what seemed to be obviously coming, they signed Sam Bassett to a homegrown deal.  For anyone who isn't in the loop Sam is Cole's younger brother and has playing at DU the last few years.  He was a Hermann Trophy (NCAA best men's soccer player) finalist and Top Drawer Soccer's player of the year this season.

Sam got a one year deal with 3 option years.  Its a bit of an odd contract but Nate Jones who was the highest of our draft picks last year got a similar contract.  I wonder if this gives the players more flexibility to renegotiate should they kill it early in their career or something.

I don't think we'll see Sam immediately impact the first team.  He can play both central mid and on the wing and if he's going to make an immediate impact it will likely be on the wing.  Between Mihailovic, Larraz, Ronan, and older brother Cole there's not many minutes to be had in central midfield.  More likely he'll get some time off the bench and some starts with Rapids 2 in 2025.

Oh and to avoid confusion going forward Cole will be Bassett and Sam will be S. Bassett when I discuss them.  I'm reminded of when the Mariners signed Ken Griffey Senior and Dad and son were debating which one got to be "Griffey" and which one had to add the "Sr./Jr." suffix to their jersey.  Junior's point was he was in Seattle first so he got to be Griffey, Senior's point was that he had been in the league longer so he had seniority.  Junior won.

One other transaction this week, the Rapids sent a 2025 international slot to Miami for $175K in GAM.  As the Rapids only have 5-6 internationals (depending on if Chacon actually joins the roster or gets loaned out again) this still leaves them room to sign at least one international before hitting the limit.