According to pareja, who was on Balboa's Radio show, the Rapids were in negotiations with someone and at the very last minute, it fell through. im getting really tired of stuff falling through...
Glad to know nothing changes. Regardless of if its Counce, Wright, Plush, Clavijo, Smith, Bravo, Hinchey, or Pareja, every couple of off-seasons we hear about the big player we almost signed. Remember when it was Borgetti? Or when we actually did sign Grimandi only for him never to play more than a preseason warm-up in Vegas? As always the Rapids are all talk.
Much like I started in the sponsorship thread: Bravo said this week that the Rapids are “actively” searching for a Designated Player, who would be the first DP in team history, and Bravo confirmed that the Rapids are seeking that player in an attacking position. 11-9-12 “We’ve had a lot of conversations about a possible DP,” Hinchey said. “I think we are interested in identifying young, exciting and talented players at a DP level. Oscar has already given us a great list of players. I haven’t been involved in all the conversations, but it wouldn’t surprise me there would be players from Colombia.” 1-10-12 Plush: We have had dialogue and we are currently having dialogue. It has to make sense on two fronts. It has to be good on the pitch and good off the pitch; it has to make sense businesswise. It is hard to draw them to Denver and it is a long process, but relationships are being formed. 8-2-10 We made a very real, credible and frankly aggressive offer for [Jared] Borgetti in 2007. We had started that process a long time before [the offer]. [Owner Stan] Kroenke has been clear on it. He would always support what we want to do if it made good sense. He gave us the go-ahead for Borgetti. [The former Mexican National Team striker signed with Cruz Azul instead.] We would have been one of the first to have a DP. Not much has changed. There’s just more activity around it. 2007, but article date 8-2-10
And just to be clear, I do not blame this current regime for failing to deliver on goals of the last regime - because the current management wasn't around to make those goals. I do blame the current regime for making the same goals while simultaneously making the same mistakes of previous regime - bringing up those goals again without making any progress on them. Either don't make that your goal, or shut up about it until the ink has dried on the contract. Shutting up about it shouldn't be that hard. I also blame us for continuing to eat up what we're spoon-fed, but meh.
Feb. 1st at the supporters event to be exact. Then it was an "Argentine #10". Official announcement was supposed to be Feb. 13th but (as we know now) that's when Rosario Central threw the monkey wrench into the works. That was also the day Rivero's name leaked. Given that the season starts a week earlier that would mean we would need to hear a description of the player on Friday with an official announcement scheduled for Feb. 6th.
At this point the Rapids would be smart to keep the deals that fell through quiet. Publicizing failed deals isn't helping the image.
Jason, now hopefully you see why some of us were disappointed weeks ago with the player acquisition pace. I think we have first pre-season game in under 10 days and a back line of 4 ( my guess mullan, wynne, moor & calderon) with a bunch of question marks. Unless we are going with those 4 until summer window, we must pick up another starting option somewhere on back line.
Remind me again....the MLS pays the remaining salaray after the first $400,000? is that right? So did the "deal" fall through with the player, the club, or the league? Saying that the "deal fell through" doesn't provide any sense of anybody's commitment to the process. If offer you $10 to paint my house and don't accept....I guess the deal fell through! So who's offering the $10, the Rapids or the league?
Other way around. The league pays the first $350K, the team picks up the rest. And no, I don't see a real link between this and the panic over the number of empty slots in December. As expected, when camp opened, we were down to 2-4 open slots. The Rapids still not signing a DP this offseason despite 41 days left is another example of how the Rapids like to talk big but in reality aren't going to do anything this offseason. They'll keep talking about how they're still "working on it" only to not be able to make it happen as we get close to the season, but I'm sure we'll hear that they'll "look at it again" come the summer transfer window.
Just because the Rapids found a warm body doesnt means a slot is filled, you want young quality talent. Of the guys brought in, Calderon seems to have the most talent. Buddle fits somewhere here but I would not be surprised if he contributes very little to team, but its a chance worth taking. Harris and Sturgis are not the guys I want, if you can't start on other teams, I do not see Rapids staff making them into all stars. Harbottle should be nothing more then a trialists to prove he belongs in MLS, based on just 3 sub appearance in last half of season. Other top western teams went out and signed or traded for starters on their current team, heck a good chunk even are starters on their respective national teams. We got just 1 who fits this category. Anyone else impressed with last years group care to explain why at best just 2 will be returning to Rapids and 1 is on loan, the other may be heading back to Columbia before season even starts.
starting team will be --harbottle--buddle--harris -----------rivero----- -------pablo-----thomas calderon-klute-wynne--moor
Just stumbled across this thread in MLS, sounds very intriguing and hope Rapids get on this boat. Wonder if this was what Rapids were talking about all along. https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/payne-new-young-designated-player-program.1981084/ Jason saw you had posted but thread had gone into U-turn, do you think this is legit? Interview with TFC President brought this interesting quote: “Also, we’re first in line to participate in the league’s new young, designated player program. So, as players are acquired by the league and made available to the teams, we’re at the top of the list. This is a key program because the players will come in at a discounted cap charge and they also will not count (as one of team’s three) designated players.”