This seems to deserve its own thread: BREAKING: LAFC and the Colorado Rapids have reached an agreement for USMNT midfielder Kellyn Acosta for up to $1.5m GAM, sources tell MLSsoccer. Deal is $1.1m up front + $400k incentives. Rapids retain a sell-on percentage.Would be among most opulent trades in MLS history.— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) January 14, 2022
WTF!? I woke up to this and seriously thought I was still asleep, like it was a damn dream. I just can't..... I just can't..... believe what I'm reading. I thought we’d lose him abroad not to a West Conference foe and certainly not through a trade. We must have something in the works. He must have a big name player or something coming. Otherwise, it makes ZERO sense to trade one of your hearts and souls of the club. One of the guys that has been a key figure in this turnaround. I'm at a lost. I trust this front office for the fist time - maybe ever - so I seriously hope something big is cooking.
I admit my first instinct was a bit WTF? but after I thought about it it makes more sense to me. First of all, fans/media were way more convinced he was going to Europe than I think the reality was. European teams aren't looking to MLS to find a 26.5 year old jack-of-all-trades midfielder/defender. Yes, it could happen, but there aren't going to be teams beating down the door to sign Acosta like we saw with Vines and are seeing with Bassett. It would have taken the right team looking for the right piece that Acosta fit into, and likely would have been a Championship-type team. So with this move I think its safe to say there were no serious offers from Europe this offseason. That left the Rapids with a top MLS player who was likely to miss significant time again this season with WCQ's and WC prep. At the same time we have a midfield where we have top players in Price, Kaye, and Max to go along with Acosta, plus our last two top draft picks are also midfielders. To say nothing of wider guys like Galvan, Barrios, and Lewis. Or the possibility of signing the other Acosta. So a glut of options, a player who's probably at the height of his value, and one that would likely miss significant time (as will Kaye, which exacerbates the issue). For the right deal, and $1.5M GAM is a nice deal, I can see why we're making this move. It certainly hurts that its too a Western team and not to the East, but you have to take the deal that's there, not the one you hope for.
Colorado Rapids agree to blockbuster trade, ship Kellyn Acosta to LAFC for money https://www.burgundywave.com/2022/1...s51YrID3fWWHxngVCR2zI0-dy1T2Pc16LOLP9vIIj5X3o Not sure about this trade
I thought there would be some serious suitors. However, not in the Top 5 leagues simply because of the age factor like you mentioned. I thought a suitor would be along the lines on an English Championship side in the promotion hunt. Those clubs are more likely to take that chance. I think if Geoff Cameron making the move to Stoke at a similar age. Valid and well appreciated point about the time missed while Acosta is away for WCQ's / WC. I hadn't thought of that factor. If I'm reading between the lines, you are eluding to the fact we might be able to absorb his lost because of the strength / depth of our midfield. I tend to agree. I think we can, too. But Acosta was often that X factor. I trust Fraser can figure out how to "replace" Acosta.
Both able to absorb his loss and pointing out we have a lot invested in midfield and an inability to get it all on the field. Max, MAK, and Acosta are all million dollar players (in salary, GAM, or transfer fee) and how do you get all 3 on the field with Price, not to mention our wingers? So we have a reason to move Acosta to free up playing time for our other investments.
So, in essence this was a year long trade. Rapids receive Mark Anthony Kaye, $500k in GAM, plus a percentage of Acosta’s sell on LAFC receive Acosta and a 2022 International Slot Not to mention the Rapids were able to use both MAK and Acosta during ‘21. While I’m shocked to see this deal, it’s still honestly good business - not only for the money side of things, but also for all the reasons listed above in prior posts on this thread.
More accurately, separating out the potential GAM based on incentives, and including the LAFC draft pick we flipped to Nashville for GAM: Colorado got Kaye, $225K of GAM, and Markanich for Acosta and an international slot for one year.
I am actually quite OK with this trade. And frankly view it as a major success by the RFO. (typing that last sentence really shows how things have changed). Acosta has done some good work with the USMNT. He has done some good work with the Rapids, but frankly has been gone a lot and has more reputation than reality (a lot due to the work at USMNT). I like Acosta, but frankly he didn't impact *that* many games for the money we got from LAFC. He will probably do well there, but miss a lot of games for USMNT duty. We have plenty of options. Add on the large number of mid-fielders and this seems almost a no-brainer. Imagine if we used that money for a goal-scorer (plus money we received from various other places and maybe even some from other trades that might be coming). We have a good midfield already and that solves the goal-scoring issue. If that were the end result, I would give this off season a massive A grade. rod.
I think I'm with most of you guys now. As Jason summarizes, Colorado got Kaye, $225K of GAM, and Markanich for Acosta and an international slot for one year. Both Acosta and Kaye will be with their NMTs this summer and fall, so we Padraig has stacked up midfielders. Keeping a piece of KA's sell on is a smart piece of business as well as he should get suitors if the USMNT performs well. I wonder is this a piece of a larger move by Padraig ... i.e. the rumored forward coming in. The GAM would help there.
Here is @TheAthletic's newser on the Colorado Rapids reportedly trading USMNT midfielder Kellyn Acosta to LAFC, with contributions from @samstejskal and @mattpentz: https://t.co/OJxgwR7zxM— Lukas Weese (@Weesesports) January 14, 2022
This narrative is sad. CO pushed me out. They had an offer for me on the table from abroad and ongoing interests and opted to trade me…— Kellyn Acosta (@KellynAcosta) January 14, 2022
Given Cole's departure and considering the Acosta move to a Western Conf. rival, the loss of a club staple, and now the egg on the club's face from Kellyn publicly airing how the RFO mistreated him recently (in his eyes, re: Euro interest), I can only conclude that Padraig/RFO better damn well have a MAJOR splash or two up his sleeve (striker, and beyond) in the very near term or he's gonna lose a lot of people's faith in what he's doing. Well, at least mine. And I'm not talking mediocre-with-potential MLS distressed asset retread finds, I'm talking a couple BIG splashes.
Yeah the new light on the situation from Acosta doesn’t exactly make things look great right now. I KNOW Acosta wanted to go to Europe for a long time now. This afternoon - which was already interesting - just got a lot more interesting….
Indeed. But, I'd say it's safe to say that EVERYONE knew Kellyn wanted to go to Europe for a long time now. Considering what he has given to this team and community and how he endured and persisted through a rough go at it (Hudson) to get to where they were this past season, if Padraig blocked his Euro hopes just so he could squeeze out another couple hundred $K out of an internal MLS move, it's not gonna sit well with me. Maybe we'll find out the true/whole story of what the Euro offers were and why PS didn't bite, and maybe it'll all make more sense then. But man, right now and in the absence of anything remotely close to big splash in the rumor mill, my faith/hope in this club just dropped a few notches on this fine Friday. And historically, it never really had a lot of spare room to drop much further.
Kellyn's latest tweet sounds considerably less negative: Regardless of the matter, I enjoyed my time in CO and was with a great group of players and staff. We achieved things most wouldn’t believe. Wishing them the best moving forward. I’m excited for my next adventure!— Kellyn Acosta (@KellynAcosta) January 14, 2022 That should turn the temperature down on this conversation a bit.
Sounds like NE Revs were also looking to nab Acosta The @NERevolution were the “front runners” to get Acosta before Christmas but @ColoradoRapids ask was just too much in the end. He heads to @LAFC instead. Big move in conference. #LAFC #MLS https://t.co/RNjqsxoryu— Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) January 14, 2022 It could be the offer overseas wasn’t worth Acosta’s value. Say, the club he mentioned that had an offer on the table only offered $700k to purchase we would all be having a fit because we let him go so cheap. Again, we don’t know for sure I’m just throwing something out there. Anyways. I’ll reserve judgement until the dust settles. A lot of stuff I’m sure will be happening in the next few weeks that will add perspective to all the moves going on.
I would say this: Padraig Smith is neither an idiot nor a bad guy. In order for him to choose LAFC over any of these “numerous European offers” and against Kellyn’s wishes, you have to assume there was a very compelling reason to do so. Remember that we have very limited insight into this transaction, outside of Kellyn’s clear (and understandable) displeasure. We have one limited side of the story. The decision to sell one of your best players to an IN DIVISION rival as opposed to overseas probably wasn’t made lightly. My guess is LAFC’s offer was significantly better than anything they were getting from Europe. It would’ve had to have been. And assuming LAFC’s was definitely the best offer on the table, Padraig made the right decision based on what’s best for the team. All that said, it’s REALLY going to hurt when Kellyn scores a late go ahead goal on us, in the Dick, in a black and gold jersey. Going to hurt a lot!
I hate to see Acosta airing things publicly like that, but as @TheWarmBurger pointed out, just because there was an offer from Europe that we didn't pursue doesn't mean we screwed him. Clubs aren't in it to give players away. At the same time, its quite possible we made a mistake here and pursued $1.1M-$1.5M in GAM when we could have had $1M in cash and a happy ex-player. Without full knowledge of the offer we don't really know who got hurt more by this move.
I agree this is likely the case. Assuming so, I'm guessing the European offer had to be somewhere between $500K-$1M. Would any of us be happy to find out we sold Acosta for $800K instead of having him in 2022? Highly doubtful. And how mad would we be if we took $800K instead of $1.1M in GAM?
Absolutely. I would expect us to get the best offer we can. If it is close, go with the player's wishes. If not, we need to maximize our value. There are a few players that have earned the right to be better taken care of. If Drew wanted a trade that wasn't quite as good, go for it. Acosta was decent for us, but I don't view him as deserving the Rapids losing a bunch so he could be happy. If close, absolutely. As everyone is pointing out, we may not know for a little while. Plus, if the offers from Europe are good, LAFC can sell him. They would get their initial investment back plus their portion of anything over.
Its also a little different for Acosta than some of our other players. We sell guys like Vines and Bassett on joining the Academy and the first team as a route to Europe. We should be willing to take a little less on them to get them to Europe because that shows we're serious to the next young kids that look at the Rapids. Acosta is 26.5 years old, in the prime of his career, and didn't come through our Academy. We, obviously, knew he wanted to go to Europe when we traded for him but teams aren't buying/trading for him on potential at this point, they're getting him for what he is now. Because of that the Rapids have to make their money on what he is now. And if that means making it in MLS instead of Europe, that sucks for Kellyn but it proves the point that its called PROFESSIONAL soccer for a reason. At the end, its the business of sport, not the Olympics.
Funny you should ask, I was just about to post this. We essentially turned Dominique Badji into over $1M in GAM.