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It’s the end of an era for the Columbus Crew. Gyasi Zardes has been traded to the Colorado Rapids for 300k of General Allocation Money (GAM) upfront, though the deal can rise to around 1.4 million dollars due to additional incentives. Zardes is out of contract at the end of the season, so most of those incentives will depend on whether he stays with the club longer term. While Zardes’ salary for this year isn’t known yet, he will remain a designated player for the Rapids and made $1.4 million last season making it a reasonable assumption his salary remains in that range.
Zardes will be available to make his debut against Charlotte FC on Saturday.
After losing his starting job in Columbus to Miguel Berry, the writing was on the wall that Zardes was likely getting a move. But, due to his no-trade clause, it had to be somewhere that suited him. The Rapids are a destination that makes sense, since they’ve only scored nine goals across their seven matches this season. Diego Rubio is the only forward on the team with multiple goals and manager Robin Fraser has been trying anything that he can to get the attack going after losing Dominique Badji to Cincinnati and midfielder Kellyn Acosta to Los Angeles FC.
“Gyasi is an elite level attacker with a strong history of production and a successful track record both in MLS and with the U.S. Men’s National Team,” said Padraig Smith, Colorado Rapids Executive VP & General Manager. “His character, mentality, experience and goal scoring prowess will greatly benefit our team. We’re thrilled to bolster our offense with his signing and look forward to welcoming him to Colorado.”
Zardes has mainly played as a central striker, but, since he can also play both wings, he’ll likely interchange with Rubio a bit in Fraser’s 3-4-3. The Rapids have only taken 80 shots this season but they have put a decent amount on target with 38.8 percent of their shots testing the…
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Source : cbssports
