Exclusive: Kansas City and Colorado Rapids both interested in Zalaegerszeg's Brazilian centre-back Diego Borges.Gent also made an enquiry (as @sachatavolieri called) as have clubs from Germany.21-year-old Brazilian is available for around €2.5m.🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/OvpmHVl2ex— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) January 12, 2026
I consider myself pretty damn educated on names of obscure European and South American clubs but I never in my life heard of Zalaegerszeg. Apparently, it’s an Hungarian club.
Interesting that the Rapids appear to be casting a wide net in search of a center back. I assume this means they feel that they need to upgrade the talent level and that Cobb and Herrington aren't ready to be full time starters. One source tells Burgundy Wave that Colorado Rapids are interested in Hull center back Semi Ajayi. Former Arsenal player. English lower league journeyman. Currently starting for Nigeria at AFCON. Brazilian Diego Borges is also a center back target, first reported by @JacobsBen. pic.twitter.com/Cnkm7YFEKQ— Burgundy Wave (@Burgundywave) January 13, 2026
Wait, I've seen this one before. This story is going to string along for a couple of weeks before they both sign elsewhere and then we'll add some unknown player at the end of camp that will take 6-8 weeks to be ready to start, at which point it will be too late to break into the starting XI and we'll limp along until the summer window starting Cobb and Holding and leaking goals.
Colorado Rapids announce their technical staff for 2026, including Matt Wells's assistant coaches of choice: -Alastair Harris (fmr AFC Bournemouth) -Rob Burch (fmr Tottenham) -Chris Sharpe -Elliot Prost -Drew Moor -Matt Gordon -Padraic Farrell— Braidon Nourse (@BraidonNourse) January 13, 2026
As if we didn’t get enough Denver Soccer news today. Colorado Rapids announce preseason camp roster. Wathuta, Diop, and Campagnolo are there from R2. Draft pick and MAC Hermann winner Donavan Phillip there too. No Larraz, Harris, or Santos. pic.twitter.com/dOluHTJNlo— Burgundy Wave (@Burgundywave) January 13, 2026
That does not have the look of a roster ready to complete for a playoff spot in MLS, if anything its weaker than last year.
Looking around the only other MLS team to hire an international manager this offseason who hadn't already worked in MLS (and thus, already had a visa) is the Crew. And they appear to be in the same situation as the Rapids. So maybe I need to cut them a little slack. https://massive-report.com/2026/01/...by-henrick-rydstroms-early-preseason-absence/
"This feels like another offseason where Padraig Smith thinks he's outsmarting the league by zigging while everyone is zagging but the reality is that has rarely worked for him." https://view-from-the-couch.blogspot.com/2026/01/problems-on-pitch-2026-roster-seems-to.html
Calvin Harris signed with SKC as a FA. Bummed. I was hoping he would re-sign with the Rapids. I quite liked him as a spot starter / super-sub type. You need those guys. You could count on Harris for 5 GA and 4A for a season.
Man.... losing Ollie sucks but I had a feeling he was gone. He definitely landed in a good spot and if last year was any indication, he should take another leap forward, Side note.... I really hope that we have more acquisitions coming. We've had a few decent ones but I'm feeling behind the 8-ball yet again. Typical Rapids.
Colorado Rapids head coach Matt Wells has arrived in Florida and will join the team, per source.— Braidon Nourse (@BraidonNourse) January 16, 2026
As Tony Galento said when he was asked about William Shakespeare, “I’ll moider da bum.” As for Vancouver and SKC, “We’ll moider da bums!”
Of course none of us really know how successful (or not) Wells will be at the helm of the Rapids. But likely it will take a while for the players to correctly implement his tactical plan - at least half a season and perhaps a lot longer. If I understand correctly from interviews, he wants to use a high press and will want to be very aggressive in doing so. The big change from Armas and to some extent Fraser, is that Wells wants to boss the game by holding a lot of possession - in the opponent's half of the field. That's a big change and ask for players that haven't been doing so. What concerns me is that the current roster may not have many players suited to this style. In particular Pax10 and Bassett who seem more suited to a counter-attacking philosophy. Because Pax10 was signed as a DP, he's likely with the Rapids for the duration of his contract - unless he goes full Moïse Bombito and gets serious attention from Europe. Hopefully he works well with the Wells plan. So far, the only players that have been brought in with the blessing of Wells are Dante Sealy and Hamzat Ojediran. Will the rest of the players adapt to the new style of play, or will it require a lot of turnover in the roster? My thoughts on this came about while a family member was asking how the Rapids will do this season. At this point my guess is the first half of the season will be rough.
""this club should be competing for titles. Full stop." "This club should be competing for MLS Cup year end and year out" Both by Kevin Demoff, both at the year-end press availability with Padraig Smith. He also talked about accountability and how normally somebody (Smith) would not get to make four coaching hires but essentially he was giving Smith a pass because he (Demoff) had only been on the job a year. If we fail to be competitive this year because Smith chose a coach who's style was not able to be implemented fast enough to allow us to be competitive then that would be a failure of the standards set by Smith's boss and I would expect to see that accountability in the form of not renewing Smith's contract, which is up at the end of the season. In reality though, we all know that we'll hear that we're on the verge of something long-lasting now that Wells has had the year he needs to implement his season, Smith will be given another 3 year contract, nobody will be held accountable, and we'll continue to flounder under Smith' leadership.
Harris and Larraz leaving for other MLS teams tells me that they wanted to get away from the Rapids. Both hoped for England or Europe but have to show more first. Larraz is leaving for what may be a better opportunity in Vancouver - I'm not sure he's good enough to be more than a bit player there, but we'll see. Thanks to @unkiemark for summarizing what Wells said about how he wants to play. I think it's completely unrealistic. Has he watched the Rapids play? Armas tried playing with a very aggressive press and it worked for about 2/3 of a season until the rest of the league caught on to it and our thin roster wore out. Then we didn't get as many easy goals and teams ran through our midfield. We stumbled into the 2024 playoffs and got eliminated in the first round, losing badly twice, and then didn't even make the playoffs last season. Most managers and teams "want to boss the game by holding a lot of possession - in the opponent's half of the field". But you need quality and consistent effort to do that. The current roster has not shown the level of quality. I put little stock in what new managers and players say when they come to town because they tend to overestimate their ability to deliver. I don't blame them for being confident and optimistic - really, they need to be - but there need to be some results. Without more significant additions to the roster, I don't expect much from this team.
OFFICIAL: The club has signed 2025 MLS SuperDraft pick Donavan Phillip to a two-year contract through the 2027 season. 📰 » https://t.co/hhcZD3vVq1#Rapids96 | @uchealth pic.twitter.com/gTeObzG44n— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) January 23, 2026
The Homegrown connection 🏔️ 🔗 #Rapids96 pic.twitter.com/kap4cbuXvq— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) January 23, 2026
🇧🇷 Sources: St. Louis City is finalizing a deal to sign left back Rafael Santos.Santos, 27, ended last season with the Colorado Rapids. Spent several seasons with Orlando City. Has made 82 regular season appearances between the two clubs. pic.twitter.com/KFVE1U1rT5— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) January 24, 2026 not surprised.
I for one will miss Santos. I thought he showed very well for us. Left back is not a position of strength for us. Oh, wait, what are our positions of strength again?