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Report: Minnesota acquires Cronin, Burch in trade with Colorado

Thirteen days ago, Minnesota United and the Colorado Rapids were foes on the field. On Friday, they became trade partners in a deal that drastically improves the putrid back line of the Loons.

Minnesota is set to bring in midfielder Sam Cronin and defender Marc Burch in exchange for midfielders Mohamed Saeid and Josh Gatt, per the Minnesota Star-Tribune. 

The Loons are off to an historically bad start, conceding 18 goals in their first four games, including two at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in a match that Cronin and Burch started in. Cronin was one of the best defensive midfielders in MLS last season, while Burch is an instant upgrade over anyone on Minnesota’s current depth chart.

The trade seems like a questionable one from the Rapids perspective, but it appears Pablo Mastroeni has enough trust in Micheal Azira and offseason signing Bismarck ‘Nana’ Adjei-Boateng in defensive midfield, with Saeid being another option to turn to in the middle of the park. The deal leaves the Rapids a bit exposed at left back, but with a Week 5 bye in hand, they’ll have plenty of time to find a Burch replacement.

Comments

  1. I remember when everyone was talking about Josh Gatt and the USMNT, now he’s not even valuable to an expansion team. What gives?

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    • So a player that looked good in Norway, got lots of USMNT hype, then failed to make much impact on a MLS expansion team. Kind of feel like I’ve heard this one before.

      Reply
    • He’s had some major injury problems since getting capped and really didn’t play at all the past two years

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      • Gatt made his return to Molde in the early Fall. He actually played decently adding a couple of assists and displaying, on occassion, that speed he had before. I do not know how credible this is but I was told he did not want to play in turf and MN Utd had been holding him out to find a team. He is healthy. Can he regain form, longterm, that is the big question.

  2. Anyone have an update on Gatt, he was playing well at Molde last season but hasn’t been making the bench for Minnesota. Injury?

    Reply

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