This is great! The selfish part of me was hoping for this plus the signing of Gilbert Koomson, which was also rumored weeks ago. Does anyone know if that is officially off? I saw rumors about a failed medical exam.
Just that he spent the last 4 seasons on loan and its not an uncommon way for us to bring in players.
A report out of Norway last week said it was a 4 year deal with a team option 5th year. The Rapids are pretty good (lately) about being open on loans and this release says nothing about a loan so I thik its safe to say we own him.
Got say, good new and think he'll help immediately. Not a true #10, but a good solid player at only 22.
Maybe they are using shock collars on players to stop the row Zed blasts and get more on target. I like the Gordon pick up but Wow, we so need a sniper up top. Have to figure he is a front runner for a wing slot.
MLS rules are an enigma but I doubt TAM could be used for a loan because MLS as a single entity and the team using their TAM wouldn't be getting the rights to the player?
I'm excited to see him in 2019. I'm not convinced he's going to help much in 2017. He's coming from what most see as a lesser league with a goals/game and assists/game ratio that matches Badji's in MLS. I think he's going to need some more experience before he's an impact player in this league but with a reported 4-5 year deal this seems like a great investment for future seasons.
Not really fair to compare his numbers to Badji. Different position. Different skills sets. Yes, The Tippeligaen is a slightly lesser league than MLS but it is not a shabby league. It is a very direct and physical but not devoid of some talent. Like I said previously, Nana was familiar to me in name only because he popped up last season as a Celtic target. since Nana has been linked to the Rapids I have done quite a bit of digging. He seems highly regarded in Norway. One of the better box-to-box midfielders in that league. I have no idea if that will translate to MLS. I sure as shit hope so. I am very optimistic. I agree that it may take him a bit to get his feet under him but I think his impact will be sooner than later. Pablo and Co. just need to put him in a position to succeed and once that happens I think Nana will be extremely impactful.
If he's supposed to be the JJ replacement as some fans believe then I'm going to look at his offensive stats (goals/assists). I'm not comparing him to Badji so much as establishing where his numbers fit compared to the team as a whole, and right now his numbers slot him in at Badji's level. If this is our major offseason offensive signing (and so far we've heard no rumors of anyone else so...) we're asking a lot for him to fix this team's offensive woes this year given his track record.
Per his Norwegian club's website, it seems as if Nana was on an annual loan from Man City (renewed 5 times). Pretty impressed with the young talent Strømsgodset has attracted/developed. I am mostly familiar with the Swedish players, but Ola Kamara played over 100 games for Strømsgodset before coming to MLS. Looks like the Crew just added another Strømsgodset player to their team, Mohammed Abu.
It'll be interesting to see where PM plays him. If he's in central midfield with Cronin and Azira, then we're counting on him to be the #10 and ring up some goals and assists. If he replaces either Cronin or Azira and Gashi plays as #10, then we'll be playing less defensively than 2016 and should score more than 1 per match more often (but may be exposed defensively).
He is an 8 (or box to box middle), which is really how we play the wings and like I said last year, Gashi's wandering for the ball and skills better suits the 10 position.
I really don't see him replacing either, the only time one of them was replaced last year was JJ coming back from injury.