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Rapids make Torres club’s first Designated Player

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By DAN KARELL

With the seconds ticking down on the Major League Soccer summer transfer window, the Colorado Rapids completed a historic deal for the club.

The team announced late Thursday night that they had signed forward Gabriel Torres to a Designated Player contract, the first ever DP signed in club history. The 24-year-old joins the Rapids on a full transfer from his Panamanian side San Francisco FC. The move is subject to the receipt of his International Transfer Certificate (ITC) and the acquisition of his P-1 Visa.

Torres recently starred for the Panamanian national team at the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup, leading Panama to the final where they would lose to the USA, 1-0. Torres scored five goals in the tournament, earning him a share of the Golden Boot, and defeated Mexico twice.

“Torres is dynamic, can score goals, and will give us a boost as we enter the final 10 games of the regular season,” Rapids head coach Oscar Pareja said in a statement on the club’s website. “We had been looking at him since before the Gold Cup, but that tournament showed everybody what he is capable of. It’s great for the club that Torres is able to join us, and I am eager to see him on the field with the boys.”

The last two seasons saw Torres spend time on season-long loans to Zamora FC in Venezuela, scoring a combined 32 goals in his two years at the club and winning the league title last season. The Panama City, Panama, native has also previously played for San Francisco in his home country, Atletico Huila and La Equidad in Colombia, as well as Chepo FC in Panama.

What do you think of this news? Do you see Torres having a big impact on the Rapids? How do you think this affects other teams in the Western Conference?

Share your thoughts below.

 

Comments

  1. Great move for my pids. This is also a counter argument against those who are worried about the MLS continuing to expand. People say there is a danger of diminishing the overall talent level. look south. We are in a hemisphere with an insane amount of talent and mediocre domestic leagues. Obviously Argentina Brazil Mexico are the exceptions

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  2. Let’s think about this for a moment. How many DP slots do US players have? 3
    Honduras? 3
    Costa Rica? 1
    Panama? 1

    I know, many of our brightest are abroad and that is good for them developmentally (for those eurosnobs).

    My point is that we need to sign more of the US CONCACAF players to DP slots, or change how this works. Our players must leave in order to get paid. It appears that even the MLS doesn’t value the US talent, and that is truly disappointing to see.

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  3. “The last two seasons saw Torres spend time on season-long loans to Zamora FC in Venezuela, scoring a combined 32 goals in his two years at the club and winning the league title last season.”

    Gave up a Libertadores spot to come to MLS. That’s huge for a Latin player. Must be a big pay raise a la Falcao leaving Atletico Madrid for Monaco.

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  4. What these Rapids are building is quite exciting… Brown, Powers, Klute, Irwin, and now Torres are very good young players to build around. Not to mention some of their key players Rivero and Castrillon have barely played this season. Also they weren’t afraid to get rid of older players who won the team an MLS Cup in the process: Pablo, Casey, Jeff L., Cummings, etc. Small market teams need to take a look at what’ s going on in Commerce City and try to emulate it.

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    • Shane O’Neill a notable miss on the list there, too.

      Funny to see the approach immediately labeled as just copying RSL, though.

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      • Oh I figured you knew him. 🙂 Just underscored your point to add him to that list of strong young players.

        Now I just want to see if they can keep up the level of performance they’ve been showing over the longer haul, and as others who are a bit older return to more play…

    • The guy’s 24 and just finished a very impressive Golden Boot winner against international competition. Guarantee he was on a lot of radars. What makes you think he’s NOT worth DP money? Would you prefer the 32+ year old name DP’s? I’ll take this guy over many of the DP’s currently in the league right now save Dempsey. An absolutely great move for the Rapids, coming from a NY fan who knows a thing or two about being a supporter of a team with legit bad DP signings…

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      • To be fair, the guy’s resume doesn’t exactly scream DP. But I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

      • No offense but i would rather have a 28 year old Martins on DP salary. Personally Colorado would have been very smart to get him on a loan till the end of the year with an option to buy. There are A LOT of talented players that are not DP’s

      • it’s great to have him in MLS even though it’s to Colorado 🙂 congrats to them for pulling the trigger

        so you’d take him over DPs save Dempsey? he’s a good pickup, but there are other current DPs I’d take over him but Torres has the chance to really change and improve that Colorado team right away

    • I know MLS has the DP “Jr.” rule for the younger players but it would be good to have some kind of second tier DP level for players like this that are going to require more money but aren’t going to have salaries like Dempsey, Henry, etc.

      I think this would keep some players from making the jump to some secondary European league and attract more talent.

      That, or they could just raise the salary cap….

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  5. For some reason I thought Claudio Lopez was a DP for the Rapids, but I guess that was only in KC. Anyway, great move. It’s good to see these players that impressed in the hex/gold cup moving to MLS. Who’s going to sign Rodolfo Zelaya?

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  6. I like MLS’ approach of trying to sign most of the better non-Mexican CONCACAF players (it’s nothing against the Mexican players, they just have a better domestic option than the other CONCACAF players). These signings are generally high quality, relatively low cost, with good potential for future transfers. Seems like good business.

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    • My sentiments exactly. The more young regional talent that comes to MLS and further develops the better. If they go the Espinoza route and go on to do well in top leagues it will only raise the profile of MLS worldwide. Big DP signings are great as well, but those guys developed in other leagues. If MLS can become known as a developer of talent that goes on to do well on the international stage, the league will continue to attract exciting young talent.

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  7. This is a fantasitic signing for the Rapids. Torres is a fantastic young player with a great first touch and tremendous pace. He will do good things for the Rapids

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