COMMERCE CITY — The Colorado Rapids enter the summer transfer window — a month-long period when teams can make trades or add players — in first place in MLS and with a roster that has no significant holes.
The addition of goalkeeper Tim Howard will be processed Monday when the window opens, and the club is expected to add defender Joseph Greenspan soon as well.
“We are in a good spot right now,” Rapids VP of soccer operations Paul Bravo said. “So I don’t think it would be a subtraction or an addition by subtracting.”
The club has roster flexibility and has its eyes on adding speed.
“We’ve identified the position. We’ve identified a couple of players,” Bravo said. “Now it’s a matter of whether we want to move forward with it. … We probably need a little pace to stretch the field, but it’s not the most important thing because we do have some young players that can fill those roles. So it’s really a matter of trying to find out if there’s one particular person that can help move the needle for us.”
The Rapids (9-2-5, 32 points) have raced to the league’s best mark without once having their best 11 players on the field at the same time — though they could come close Monday when Colorado takes on defending MLS Cup champion Portland Timbers.
Roster moves
The Rapids on Thursday announced they had waived midfielder Emmanuel Appiah and goalkeeper Chris Froschauer. Appiah was the Rapids’ top pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft (No. 15 overall) and Froschauer was Colorado’s third round selection (No. 43 overall). Neither player appeared in a match for the Rapids. The moves create additional roster flexibility heading into the summer transfer window.
