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Rapids deal for Richardson

2008 015 

The Colorado Rapids have spent a good portion of the off-season trying to find another forward to complement strikers Conor Casey and Omar Cummings and the Rapids may have finally found their man.

The Rapids struck a deal with Toronto FC, sending an undisclosed 2010 draft pick (believed to be in the first two rounds) to Toronto in exchange for the rights to Guyanese forward Gregory Richardson, sources with knowledge of the deal told SBI on Thursday. Richardson had been on trial with Toronto FC, which held the top Discovery Claim on the him, but TFC ultimately decided to deal the MLS rights to Richardson to the Rapids.

A striker who most recently played for Trinidad & Tobago club Joe Public, Richardson first rose to prominence in MLS circles when he scored an impressive hat-trick against New England in Joe Public's 4-0 CONCACAF Champions League win at Gillette Stadium last September. His combination of speed and skill had a long list of teams interested in his services, but Toronto ultimately landed his rights and dealt them to the Rapids after choosing not to keep him following an extended trial.

There is no word yet on whether Richardson has agreed to a contract with the Rapids, but the fact that a deal was completed suggests that a deal has either already been reached, or should be reached soon.

What do you think of Colorado landing Richardson? Can he help a Rapids team that many experts are pegging to miss the playoffs in 2009? Surprised that Toronto didn't keep him?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. eh, i can’t imagine richardson doing much. there are a lot of speedy forwards (cummings being one of them) and usually they get contained pretyy easily. maybe 4-5 goals all yr. will see.

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  2. What! your comparing Pavon to Shevchenko!

    Somebody had to say it nico; I’d thought I’d get it out of the for you…

    Trader Mo does it again. Get’s a draft pick out of Colorado for essentially nothing. I want to go to the Mo Johnson school of management…

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  3. While many of the people posting here are making this into a quality decision — a dubious argument when he’s already scored a hat trick against a quality MLS team (even if they were at a weak spot … what do people think is going to happen again when the callups and injuries start)– I think it’s simply a question of numbers and the fact he’s not signed yet. His competition, including Vitti, look like they are all contractually locked-in. Though Bruce Arena just cut a bunch of players under contract, that’s not my sense of how the league usually operates.

    Otherwise, all due respect, but White is not rehabbed and TFC was not so productive where they can be turning their nose up at anyone. They need DeRo in the midfield — which is kind of old — not up top where they have a bunch of position players like Barrett and Dichio (who can’t be moved backwards).

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  4. seems good for Colorado, they need all the help they can get. Though I dont know much about Richardson.

    Jim- I never understand why if a player does not play well with one club he is deemed bad or undeserving. Look at Pavon’s long successful history in Mexico. Just because he doesn’t work out for one team (or league) does not mean a player has no talent. Just look at Shevchenko at Chelsea. (NO I am not trying to compare the two players, just the situations).

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  5. Ives – How many players can a MLS team have on their “discovery list” at a time? Last year, Toronto got something for nothing via their Huckerby discovery – now Colorado does the same with them for Richardson.

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  6. It seams like this is another Carlos Pavon, play well in a couple of high profile games against USA/Concacaf teams and all the suddent their is a buzz.

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  7. Michael Vann: Sure, Toronto was after Richardson for a while, but they were also after Vitti…a younger player with a stronger pedigree. To me, having Richardson in camp was an insurance policy in case the Vitti loan deal fell through.

    In other words, no. I’m not surprised he was dealt. Time will tell whether or not he’ll make an impact in the Rapids’ lineup, but I can’t see how it could be any worse than what they had up front…i.e. nothing.

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  8. Michael:

    It’s more of a situation where we might have needed him before more than we do now. Last year we had Dichio and Barrett. When Dichio got injured, we were left with Ibrahim (17 year old) to fill in, and that was pretty much it. This year we have Vitti, Dichio, and Barrett up front, with an older, stronger Ibrahim, a soon to be rehabilitated White, Hall, and the potential for DeRo to play up front as well. Essentially, we have a full stable of forwards (carrying 6 strikers on a 20 man roster is hard enough as it is). We just couldn’t afford the roster slot or the cap space for another one. From what I heard Richardson impressed somewhat at camp, just not enough to earn a spot over our 3 top strikers.

    For what it’s worth, I hope he does well, he seems to really want to break into the MLS, which is refreshing in a player coming in.

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  9. I’m not surprised that Toronto didn’t keep him given the stable of forwards there. Not a criticism of Richards, just too many good guys in TFC already.

    This is a good move by the Rapids and should be rewarded. I also don’t know how “experts” can be already pegging them to miss the play-offs in 2009. They weren’t that bad last year and showed a lot of improvement under Smith. It’s really just too early to be so negative, before a single competitive minute has been played.

    What I am pissed about is that my Red Bulls missed this. If it took a 2nd round draft pick in 2010 to get Richardson, Osorio and Agoos SHOULD have been trading. Richardson is exactly the kind of player that could have helped us, would have fit into the team well, and would have given us a little more depth at striker with Echeverry expected to be cut soon. I’m not happy at all at the RB FO for snoozing on this one.

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  10. TFC doesn’t need him. They brought in a bunch of trialists just to be sure… but with a stacked midfield (Ricketts, Guevara, De Rosario, Robinson, Cronin) and settled offence (Barrett, Dichio, Ibrahim, White, Vitti) he was expendable.

    His goals stats in the T&T league were not that great. Yes, he had that big game against NE but in that one game he scored the equivalent of about half his whole league season’s worth of goals.

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  11. Richardson very much impressed with his blazing pace, touch, and finishing when he lit up the Revs. Is he really worth the hoopla that kind of surrounded him, though? To my recollection TFC have been hot and his trail for months and finally got him into to camp to train, now they want to deal his rights. That’s odd to me. Is it a red flag he really may not be what we think? Maybe the game against the Revs was a fluke. I don’t know. It just seems strange they are willing to deal his rights.

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  12. not that surprised we didnt keep him, he didnt do much outside of the CL, we’ve got quite a few guys up front now (god i cant believe i typed that and meant it) and we need more in the back. I hope he does well as he seems to have the right attitude from what ive read. Imelehu or wahtever his name is (the cb with the canadian passport) would have been nicer but im sure Mos got plans

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  13. Oh the worst team in the league finally made a move! Since we had no forwards that are above average I guess thiss move will help us a bit. At the least it will provide some more depth.

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