The club is set to hire Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur assistant coach Matt Wells, 37, as its next head coach, sources confirmed to The Denver Post. The Athletic first reported the hire.

Wells was the Champions League club’s top assistant to Ange Postecoglou last season, when the Spurs finished 17th in the Premier League but defeated Manchester United in the Europa League final to clinch a CL berth. His other assistant coaching stops include Fulham, AFC Bournemouth and Club Brugge.

Wells grew up in the Tottenham academy system and has family pedigree in football — his grandfather, Cliff Jones, is a Tottenham legend from the 1960s and played for Wales in the 1958 World Cup. Injuries derailed Wells’ path toward a potential debut with the first team, so he turned to coaching and earned a UEFA B coaching license at just 20.

Tottenham is a top rival to Kroenke Sports & Entertainment-owned Arsenal, but there is proven precedent to Premier League assistants succeeding in their first head-coaching roles in MLS. Current Minnesota United coach Eric Ramsay went from being an assistant at Manchester United to leading his first team in Minnesota in 2024. The Loons have steadily climbed from an 11th place finish before Ramsay joined to fourth place and a Western Conference semifinal appearance this season.

Ramsay, who was 32 when he joined Minnesota, was the youngest-ever head coach in MLS. Wells will be one of the youngest in the league immediately.

Sources added that Wells will travel to Colorado early next week and join the team. Tottenham plays against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, but it����ap unclear whether Wells will be on the bench for that match.

Wells will have an exciting, but somewhat disjointed roster to work with in 2026. A talented young spine of Paxten Aaronson, Cole Bassett, Rafael Navarro and Josh Atencio, along with seasoned veterans like Zack Steffen and former Arsenal defender Rob Holding, gives Wells options and the potential to be good from the start of next season. That talent was there at the end of 2025, but was used in a suboptimal way and given too little time to mesh as the Rapids plummeted in the west standings.

Tottenham plays in a 4-2-3-1 system just like the Rapids (mostly) have for the past two years under former coach Chris Armas. Right now, that����ap what seems to suit the current roster best, but free agency began this week in MLS and the transfer window will begin in January.

After Armas was hired ahead of the 2024 season, the Rapids brought in Steffen and spent a club-record transfer fee on Djordje Mihailovic. KSE President of Team and Media Operations Kevin Demoff was coy on committing to spend big on the roster during a press conference in October, but that could change with experience and credentials as demanding as someone like Wells, despite this being his first head-coaching stint.

Since that time, the Rapids trimmed more than $700,000 from the salary budget, but since October 2024, the payroll increased by almost $300,000. Some hefty salaries left the club this summer, including Kévin Cabral, Chidozie Awaziem and Djordje Mihailovic, who together combined for nearly $5 million. However, the Rapids’ three permanent summer acquisitions added nearly $3.6 million, distributed as follows:

• M Paxten Aaronson: $2 million
• CB Rob Holding: $1.2 million
• LB Rafael Santos: $375,000

The Rapids’ two other summer acquisitions, center back Noah Cobb and winger Alexis Manyoma, are with the club on loan. Cobb’s loan technically ended at the conclusion of the season, but the Rapids have a purchase option to acquire him permanently. His salary is on Atlanta United’s books in the meantime. Manyoma is listed at $535,000 on the Rapids’ payroll, but it����ap likely his parent club, Club Estudiantes, will pay a portion of that until his loan ends in June.

Darren Yapi was the Rapids’ best bang-for-your-buck player on the roster, logging career highs in goals (eight) and assists (two) for just $104,000 annually. His contract is up, but the club has an option to bring him back for 2026.

Generally, the higher-spending clubs in the MLS tend to perform better, but it����ap not a hard and fast rule. The Philadelphia Union, winners of the 2025 Supporters’ Shield for most points in the regular season, were reported as the lowest-spending team in the league as of Wednesday. Conversely, Atlanta has the third-most expensive payroll in the league, but only avoided finishing dead last by drawing D.C. United on Decision Day.

For the Rapids, the performance was just about right for the pay relative to the league. They finished 11th in the Western Conference (21st in MLS) after a significant drop-off at the end of the season.

The dip in form could in part be attributed to the loss of key players during the summer, namely Mihailovic, who forced his way out of the club back in August. His landing spot was Toronto FC, where he now makes about $2.16 million annually compared to his $1.45 million salary in Colorado.

Inter Miami topped the league again in total salary at just less than $37 million. Its superstar, Lionel Messi, logged a guaranteed compensation of more than $20 million, a number only three other entire teams topped in base salary.

The Colorado Rapids announced that the club and coach mutually agreed to part ways on Monday. Armas, whose contract expired at the end of this season, finished with a 26-29-13 record in the MLS regular season since joining ahead of the 2024 campaign. In 2025, the Rapids were on track to make the playoffs for the second straight year but had their season end dramatically on Decision Day after a poor run in the season’s home stretch.

A search for a new coach is underway, effective immediately.

After a dismal 2023 season that ended as the worst in club history and included the firing of coach Robin Fraser, Armas brought life back to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park with a fast-paced style and strong personality. During his time in Colorado, Armas worked to build bonds with players, staff and fans and helped shift the club’s culture in short order.

“We’re grateful to Chris for the professionalism and passion he brought to the club,” Rapids President Pádraig Smith said in a statement. “He helped our group take meaningful steps forward over the past two seasons and leaves behind a strong culture that will serve us well as we begin this next chapter.”

While there were low points in his short tenure, Armas led the club to notable heights, namely an improbable run to third place in the 2024 Leagues Cup competition, which included four straight victories against clubs and an upset of Club América in the quarterfinals. He also led the Rapids to back-to-back Rocky Mountain Cups against rival Real Salt Lake, a feat the club hadn’t accomplished since 2005-06 — the cup’s inaugural two-year stretch.

“I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve done here and the progress the team has made,” Armas said in a statement. “I want to thank the Kroenke family, Kevin Demoff and Pádraig, along with the players, staff, and the Rapids community, for their trust and support. This is a special club with passionate fans, and I’ll always be grateful for my time in Colorado.”

As much as Armas’ time was stamped by culture improvement and a high-energy playstyle, it was also marked by sustained roster turnover. Both of his years started far better than they finished, which can be at least partially attributed to system-breaking moves in the summer transfer window.

In 2024, the MLS-record sale of center back Moïse Bombito left the team without a speedy last-ditch defender to cover the team when they sent numbers into the attack. This year, star midfielder Djordje Mihailovic, who had broken club goal contribution records in 2024, demanded a trade to Fraser’s Toronto FC. In both seasons, marked decline in performances after the moves left the team near the bottom or out of the playoff picture entirely.

Conversely, the Rapids completed some record inbound transfers during his tenure, including the completion of Rafael Navarro’s $3.5 million transfer in 2024 and nabbing Paxten Aaronson from Eintracht Frankfurt for a club-record $7 million this August.

Smith said on multiple occasions this year that the club planned on extending Armas’ third head-coaching stint. Armas told reporters near the end of the season that offers were made and an agreement was “close,” but it never got over the line.

There are multiple openings across the league, including in Armas’ hometown of New York with the Red Bulls, who also mutually parted ways with their head coach on Monday. Other vacancies include the New England Revolution, CF Montréal, St. Louis CITY, Sporting Kansas City and Atlanta United.

The majority of the coaching staff outside of Armas also had their contracts expire at the end of this year. Decisions on the future of those coaches will be made this offseason, with a large input coming from the next head coach. That head coach, the club said, will be identified and chosen with a focus on “building on the foundation established over the past two seasons,” according to the club’s statement.

A few minutes later, their season was over — done in by an awkward bounce and rebound that allowed red-hot LAFC to equalize in the 90th minute and dash the Rapids’ hopes of qualifying for the wild card round of the MLS Cup Playoffs.

With Real Salt Lake choking away a lead of its own against St. Louis, Colorado would have sealed the No. 9 seed in the west had it held on at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

Instead, the 2-all draw kept the Rapids (11-15-8) out of the postseason for the third time in four years and sent them into an offseason filled with uncertainty.

“(It����ap) pretty much just the highest highs and the lowest lows,” said forward Darren Yapi, whose 87th-minute header put the Rapids ahead, 2-1. “Scoring that goal, I felt like we were through (to the playoffs) and that we were good, and then, you know, they responded. I can’t even process it right now.”

LAFC substitute Andrew Moran tied the game up in the 90th minute after a shot ricocheted off the post straight to his boot. Son Heung-Min opened the scoring with a rocket in the first half, then Paxten Aaronson opened his Rapids account to equalize in the 62nd minute.

No team has found a solution to Son and Denis Bouanga’s reign of terror since the South Korean icon’s arrival for a league-record transfer fee 10 games ago. But to the Rapids’ credit, both were relatively neutralized aside from Son’s stunner. They’ve done that to plenty of striking powers, especially at DSGP, but it didn’t protect them from the final few minutes, when the mood of the team swung as much as it possibly could have.

That����ap been a theme of the 2025 Rapids. Coach Chris Armas and numerous players preached their rule of thumb that mentally, they don’t get too high or too low. According to Cole Bassett, that gets difficult when it seems like peaks and valleys are all that exist.

“It hits a little bit more once the season is over and you know you’re probably not playing a game for three months. That����ap tough for all of us to process, and we didn’t want to go out this way,” Bassett said. “I think throughout the season, you definitely need to stay even-keeled, but there’s definitely things we can work on from what (Armas) has said throughout the year, because maybe we did get too high or too low in moments and that cost us games.”

Another core principle of this season has been uncertainty and turbulence, which is now carrying through to the offseason.

Just this summer, Chidozie Awaziem requested a transfer to France for personal reasons, then the club’s talisman, Djordje Mihailovic, demanded a trade to Toronto near the end of the window. Replacements came in for both, but their efficacy in those roles is still to be determined with just a few games under their belt.

The biggest question, though, is whether Armas will be at the helm to see that through.

The head coach didn’t directly respond when asked about his future with the club, but club president Pádraig Smith said multiple times this season that an extension was on the way. As recently as a few weeks ago, Armas said he wanted to stay in Colorado, and after Saturday’s match, he spoke about the team’s future while implying he’d be a part of it.

“It’s fresh, the season just ended,” Armas said. “We’ll have discussions with leadership and continue some discussions. That’s all I can say for now.”

Given the Rapids players’ admiration of Armas and the simultaneous freefall out of the playoff picture, it����ap tough to decipher which direction the club will take.

The newest Rapid, officially announced as a record-breaking inbound transfer on Thursday, had an introductory news conference in Denver alongside club president Pádraig Smith and coach Chris Armas. The 21-year-old attacking midfielder was acquired from Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga for a Rapids record $7 million and an additional $1.5 million in conditional add-ons.

The original plan was to allocate a record $8 million fee for Djordje Mihailovic modestly into multiple players, but in the past two weeks, an opportunity arose that the Rapids couldn’t pass up.

Aaronson, a bright prospect who could grow into a regular feature for the U.S. Men’s National Team, wanted to move on from Frankfurt and had options in England at the EFL Championship level. The Rapids had their eyes on him passively, but it got real when Aaronson expressed interest in Colorado as a home and a place to nurture his talent.

“I think it����ap a unique time in my career. … I think it’ll challenge me as a young player to come into a team, to fight for trophies and get better in roles and aspects maybe Europe can’t give me,” Aaronson said. “That����ap the main thing that attracted me to it, coming to a team, being a presence to try to win trophies. I want to make myself better and also everybody around me.”

Many of the players he’ll surround himself with have connections with him already through his academy days at the Philadelphia Union, as well as at youth national team camps and competitions. Those include Darren Yapi, Cole Bassett, Josh Atencio, Zack Steffen and Keegan Rosenberry.

In some ways, the Rapids have deliberately built a squad of up-and-coming national teamers or fringe players trying to push their way back into the USMNT fray. Aaronson wanted in on that.

Now, he could become one of the faces of a franchise that recently lost one in Mihailovic. Aaronson will likely play a similar position and wear the same number: No. 10, a historical marker of leadership and excellence. During his time with the Rapids, Mihailovic represented it well, but the club thinks Aaronson can take it further.

“We’re thrilled with this (transfer) window. … (Aaronson) was icing on the cake,” Smith said. “What happened with Djordje happened. We had to take a real deep look at that and say, ‘How do we get better here?’ We found a way to get better and ultimately brought in a player who I think will take us to another level because he’s able to affect the game on both sides of the ball.”

While officially at Frankfurt, Aaronson spent two years on loans at two different clubs in the Dutch Eredivisie. Last season, he was a finalist for the league’s Young Player of the Year award for a 12-goal contribution season at FC Utrecht. Now, Aaronson gets stability with a five-year contract in Colorado, where his father has an office for his work.

“I was constantly on the move,” Aaronson said. “The loans, they couldn’t have gone better. I enjoyed every moment in the Netherlands, but I hadn’t really been able to settle down somewhere and call it home. I think that really intrigued me about here, building that foundation of a family, being close to my family … and going into a locker room with a bunch of American guys and familiar faces makes it easier.”

Armas didn’t specify how he’ll use Aaronson on the field, but it seems he’ll occupy a central role. A return to Armas’s 4-2-3-1 with Aaronson as the 10 or keeping with the 3-4-3 with him as a No. 8 remains to be seen, but all three pointed out a willingness to press and win the ball back with consistency.

Armas, a players’ coach obsessed with culture, was especially impressed by Aaronson’s mentality and mindset in various meetings before the signing.

“We’re very selective in who we bring in, who we want in, and allow into our circle. It����ap a special group we have going,” Armas said. “For me, all the things that make great athletes great and good people good, this is what we have (in Aaronson), so it����ap a perfect fit. I think his play will do the talking of what a real player is: a team player who plays for the joy of the game, which sometimes gets lost these days.”

Pending medical evaluations, Aaronson could debut as soon as the Rapids’ away match at the L.A. Galaxy this Saturday. So could Rob Holding, a center back signing from nearly three weeks ago who received his P-1 Visa and is eligible to play. New arrival Rafael Santos made the bench last week against Atlanta United, but did not feature.

With seven games to go in the regular season, Aaronson doesn’t have a ton of time to establish his base, but perhaps a foundation in a more comfortable place with just enough challenge and responsibility to mold his young career.

The club is in advanced talks to sign U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder Paxten Aaronson from Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt, a source told The Denver Post on Tuesday.

The source added that while a transfer fee isn’t finalized, it could be a club record that surpasses current Rapids forward Rafael Navarro’s $3.5 million mark. Whatever the number turns out to be, most of the funds will come from the club-record $8 million sale of Djordje Mihailovic earlier this month to Toronto.

Aaronson, 21, started his career as a Philadelphia Union product before moving on to Frankfurt, where he went on loan to multiple Dutch clubs to get playing time. He impressed in the Eredivisie, particularly as a member of Utrecht last season, where he scored eight goals and provided four assists in 33 matches.

Last Sunday, he scored as a late sub in a 5-0 rout of Engers in the first round of the German domestic cup DFB-Pokal.

Aaronson returned to Frankfurt after his loan, seemingly ready to make the step toward regular minutes in the Bundesliga, but instead may end up back in the MLS. It����ap unclear what type of roster slot he’d occupy, but it’s possible he’d take the Designated Player slot Mihailovic vacated.

Aaronson is on the brink of good minutes with the USMNT, too. He appeared in two Concacaf Gold Cup matches, including a start with his brother, Brendan, in a group stage loss to Switzerland. That makes the move a bit puzzling, given the drop-off in competition and quality from the Bundesliga to the MLS.

Should the move be finalized and made official, not only will the Rapids have broken inbound and outbound transfer fee records, but they will also exit a turbulent transfer window with a new face of the franchise.

The window started with the departure of center back Chidozie Awaziem, who was the Rapids’ best defender at the time. Multiple players went out on loan, then another DP (Kévin Cabral) was waived by the club. The biggest bombshell was Mihailovic’s surprise transfer request, which the Rapids complied with and received a major paycheck in return.

Colorado may have made up for Mihailovic’s departure with inbound moves, though. The Rapids brought in two solid center backs: Noah Cobb, a young player who has started and impressed in three matches; and Rob Holding, a Premier League-level player who fell out with his former coach at Crystal Palace. On the back line, they traded for Orlando City left back Rafael Santos to provide depth and instigate competition with Sam Vines for the role.

Offensively, they brought Colombian winger Alexis Manyoma on a one-year loan from Argentinian club Estudiantes. And now they are on the verge of adding Aaronson.

The Rapids are in the midst of a playoff push. In just two matches, they’ve jumped from 10th to seventh in the Western Conference and still have one of the easiest schedules in the league to finish out the campaign.

Holding and Manyoma have yet to debut for the club, and may still have to wait while their P-1 Visa applications are processed and granted. Should the deal for Aaronson go through, that will be three big pieces to integrate in just two months. Time will tell, but the future of life post-Mihailovic may not be so grim for the Rapids after all.

Make it two, as the Brazilian striker scored a second-half brace against Atlanta United for a 3-1 Colorado Rapids win Saturday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. It����ap the second-straight MLS win for the Rapids since the departure of star midfielder Djordje Mihailovic for Toronto.

Navarro earned and scored a penalty in the 64th minute, then doubled his tally in the 71st. Calvin Harris dribbled inside the penalty area and was taken down, then as Rapids players pleaded for a penalty and Atlanta defenders looked to the referee to deny it, Navarro drove a ball past keeper Brad Guzan’s feet.

“As an attacker, you always have to believe the ball is going to come to you and you’ve got to always stay switched on,” Navarro said through Rapids translator Andre Hilf. “Everybody else switched off and was looking at Calvin. As a striker, you have to pay attention and take the opportunity when it presents itself.”

The Rapids’ opener saw Navarro provide an assist to Darren Yapi, who continued his hot run of form with another goal after scoring twice at Minnesota. In the 18th minute, Cole Bassett connected with Navarro, who put a good header into a dangerous spot for Yapi to score with one touch of the bounce.

Navarro made some Rapids history with the double. His first of the night, No. 26 of his Rapids career, cemented him as a club top-10 career scorer. No. 27 tied him for ninth with Wolde Harris.

“(Navarro) is relentless. I’ve been around a few good ones, but he’s one of the best in terms of his desire to score goals and his desire to win and commit to the team,” Rapids coach Chris Armas said. “It����ap uncommon in this sport. I’m thrilled for him (about the milestone) because he’s at his happiest when he scores, and if we win, even better. I think our league is lucky to have a guy like him.”

Colorado returned to the 3-4-3 formation that beat Minnesota a week ago, which seems likely to stay given how it puts most players in their best positions. The biggest beneficiaries of the change have been Sam Vines, who can now play a bigger attacking role, and Yapi, who still slots into a central role, but can also make waves on the wing.

New signing Rafael Santos, a left back the Rapids acquired from Orlando City late this week, made the bench but did not debut. Sydney Wathuta, a Rapids 2 standout who played well in the club’s final Leagues Cup match against Cruz Azul, made his MLS debut as a late sub in his final call-up of the season from the MLS NEXT Pro team.

With the win and an Austin FC draw to FC Dallas, the Rapids jumped to seventh in the Western Conference. A Portland Timbers loss to FC Cincinnati brings the Rapids just a point off of sixth in the conference. The Rapids, who sat in 10th when Mihailovic left, have seven games to go in the regular season.

Mihailovic, who shattered records in just more than a year and a half with the club, was not a problem when it came to results. But dealing with the departure and moving forward, with the sort of belief only a coach like Armas could inspire, has seemed to bring the team closer together.

“I think our mentality was that the business is tough sometimes, some players come and go, but the show goes on and we have to focus on every next game,” Yapi said. “Confidence is growing every time you win. We’re going to learn what we need to learn from this game and keep it pushing.”

The Rapids acquired left back Rafael Santos from Orlando City on Friday in exchange for $125,000 in 2025 General Allocation Money (GAM) and up to an additional $200,000 2026 GAM if certain performance metrics are attained.

Santos, 27, is an attack-minded outside back who has played with Orlando since 2023, when he joined the MLS after spending his first few professional seasons with several Brazilian clubs.

Like current Rapids forward Rafael Navarro, Santos won multiple trophies in Brazil. In the MLS, he’s played 75 matches through three seasons and has scored two goals to go with five assists. He started 23 of his 26 appearances in 2023, when Orlando finished second in the regular season and made it to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Rapids have preferred attacking outside backs to pair with talented wingers to facilitate offense on the flanks. But this move, which adds to an already-solid left back core of Sam Vines and Jackson Travis — both also attack-minded — could signal a full switch to the 3-4-3 that beat a top team in Minnesota United last week.

The change came after the departure of attacking midfielder Djordje Mihailovic, whom the Rapids’ offense was based around since his 2024 arrival. Both goals against Minnesota came via end-to-end transition started by the defense. One was assisted by Vines.

Santos could provide something Vines and Travis don’t necessarily have in their arsenal, however. His most recent assist for Orlando is a solid example. It came with him hanging around the top of the formation as if he were a forward. He received a long ball at the outside edge of the penalty box and put a quality ball into the mixer for a goal. Vines and Travis usually only get up into those areas when the play builds up over time.

It����ap an interesting player profile for what is becoming an interesting team. Since officially losing their best player, the Rapids have had two strong performances and have shown they can finish this season on a high note.

With eight games to go, the Rapids are in eighth place in the Western Conference. They’ve played at least one more game than the four teams ahead of them in the table, so finishing seventh or above to avoid a No. 8 vs. No. 9 play-in game could become tricky. But the schedule is favorable.

Santos is the third defender to arrive in the secondary transfer window since Chidozie Awaziem departed in July, joining center backs Noah Cobb and Rob Holding.

As of a week ago, the Rapids still had multiple ongoing discussions and offers out, according to president Pádraig Smith. The transfer window ends on Aug. 21 before rosters freeze on Sept. 12.

Facing an uphill battle for a playoff berth with nine games to go, Colorado Rapids forward Darren Yapi put his team on his back. With his first-ever brace in a 2-1 win over Minnesota United at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minn., the 20-year-old gave the Rapids new life days after losing their best player to a transfer.

Starting the day in 10th place in the Western Conference — out of the playoff picture — the win put Colorado in eighth and sets it up strongly for a relatively easy schedule to round the regular season out. Minnesota could have jumped Vancouver for second in the West with a win.

Yapi broke the deadlock in the 60th minute with a run down the left flank, then a move toward the middle and a calm, powerful finish toward the right side netting. Sam Vines provided the impressive ball into space in transition for his second assist of the season.

The youngster struck again in the 70th, again in transition. After a string of quick passes on a counterattack, Rafael Navarro played Yapi in on the right side of the box, and Yapi sniped the bottom left corner past Minnesota keeper Dayne St. Clair. The tallies were Yapi’s fifth and sixth of the season — a career single-season high that keeps rising.

“This can give us momentum going into this last (part of the season). I’m happy to have scored my first brace and honestly just want to keep going,” Yapi said. “Every time I start, or even off the bench, I ask myself the same question, which is, ‘How can I help the team win?’ In any way, whether it����ap offensively or defensively, just finding ways I can help the team is huge for me.”

Those two plays alone, in succession, were as good as the Rapids have looked in transition all year. Impressive for a team that just transferred Djordje Mihailovic, one of the MLS’s most creative attacking players, to Toronto.

“(The transition game) was part of the reason we started the front three that we did with Calvin (Harris), Yapi and (Navarro). We knew three of the most powerful, fastest guys could keep close together and create scenarios of our front three against their back three,” Rapids coach Chris Armas said. “It����ap going to be interesting moving forward. … In the run of play, we were pretty stingy against a really good team.”

Minnesota responded quickly to the Rapids’ second goal with a wide-open finish from about eight yards out by Tani Oluwaseyi in the 73rd minute.

For Colorado, life post-Mihailovic seems to be lived by committee, especially with two central midfielders (Josh Atencio and Connor Ronan) out with injuries.

Without them, Armas deployed a 3-4-3 for the first time since the second leg of the L.A. Galaxy playoff series after losing the first, 5-0. These have been the only times the Rapids have played the formation, both following disastrous moments in the Armas era. Only this time, unlike a 4-1 home loss to the Galaxy, it worked.

Colorado, now firmly in the playoff mix, will face five opponents 10th or lower in their respective conference standings for its final eight games. In reverse fixtures this season, the Rapids failed to beat two of them.

“I’m always looking for things the boys can rally behind. This game could be (season-defining), but we have a lot built into this group. There’s a lot they play for, big aspirations to achieve the ultimate prize, so there’s a lot of motivation for the guys,” Armas said. “We come on the road to win. … The team’s been through some ups and downs recently, some tough stuff with injuries and different things, but they’re an impressive group with the way they stick together.”

The club is finalizing a deal to send star midfielder Djordje Mihailovic to Toronto FC, sources told The Denver Post on Monday. The deal is a cash transfer — a new mechanism for intra-league transactions this year — worth a club-record $8 million and up to an additional $1 million in performance incentives.

Colorado rejected two formal offers from Toronto to acquire Mihailovic before he told leadership he wanted the move and his mind was made up, a league source told The Post. The club’s front office was blindsided by Mihailovic’s decision.

Mihailovic’s perceived transfer value around the league was in the ballpark of $5 million, the source told The Post. But Toronto paid a bit of a premium for Mihailovic after two bids were rejected by a seller reluctant to sell.

Colorado had no interest in moving Mihailovic before the end of this season, the source said. The front office made multiple attempts to sway Mihailovic to stay in Colorado, but they were unsuccessful.

Mihailovic missed the Rapids’ second Leagues Cup match against Club Tijuana on Sunday due to “personal reasons.” As it turns out, he has played his last match as a Rapid.

Mihailovic was contracted to play in Colorado through 2027, with a club option for 2028, when he joined the team from the Dutch league’s AZ Alkmaar before the 2024 season. A new deal with Toronto is close to being completed and signed.

Toronto recently terminated Lorenzo Insigne’s and Federico Bernardeschi’s contracts, which offloaded just more than $21.5 million in 2025 salary. Consequently, it����ap likely Mihailovic, a proven MLS difference-maker entering his prime at 26 years old, could see a massive raise in pay from his $1.775 million Rapids salary this season.

Toronto is led by former Rapids coach Robin Fraser, but the two did not overlap in Colorado.

The Rapids won’t pursue just one player with their newfound bucket of cash, the league source indicated, but will likely reinvest in three or four different starting-caliber players instead to round out a roster that started the year deep but is now dwindling.

In a month’s time, the Rapids have sold their best defender in center back Chidozie Awaziem, waived their highest-paid winger in Kévin Cabral and lost the face of the franchise in Mihailovic. The Rapids are sitting in ninth place in the Western Conference — good for a play-in game — with just nine regular-season games remaining.

There are some winnable games on the table, but an uphill climb just got steeper for an offense that has had scoring droughts this year.

Mihailovic was a star almost instantly after joining the team. His coming-out party came in a 3-2 home win over LAFC early in 2024, where he had an assist, an otherworldly free kick goal and a late game-winner using his thigh.

Later in the year, he scored the club’s 11th all-time hat trick in an away match against St. Louis. By the end of the season, he broke the club record for single-season goal contributions (25).

Before the Rapids’ miraculous run to third place in last year’s Leagues Cup, Mihailovic was selected as one of three overage players to compete in the Paris Olympics with the U.S. In a group stage game, he scored on a world-class free kick against Guinea. He added a penalty kick against New Zealand.

Recently, he assisted all three goals in a 3-0 win over Vancouver, which broke Mark Chung’s club record (38) for goal contributions in a player’s first two seasons with the Rapids. He finished his Rapids tenure with 45 in 63 matches across all competitions.