Mihailovic leaves Rapids up the creek without a paddle
Djordje Mihailovic forces Rapids FO to trade him to Toronto FC, leaving the team high and dry in the midfield with just two weeks left in the transfer window.
Djordje Mihailovic has consistently been the best player for Colorado for the past season and a half. With 11 goals, 10 assists in 2024 and 9 goals, 6 assists in 2025, he’s been incredibly productive in offense. His Goals Added numbers for the past two seasons of 8.54 and 7.75 G+ are exceeded only by Rafa Navarro and Cole Bassett,1 and also demonstrate that he’s been exceptionally good as a player even in situations that the counting stats like goals and assists don’t measure. His ability and his production to date are seemingly irreplaceable.
And – now he’s gone.
He’s taking all that skill at distribution and possession, his wondrous ability with free kicks, his silky smooth ability to wiggle through traffic just above the 18 yard box … and heading to Toronto. Tom Bogert was first to report, and Matt Pollard additionally confirmed that it was Mihailovic who requested to be traded. It’s both hard to understand why he’d want to leave, and of course also, it’s very simple.
The simple part is two-fold. First, a new team means a new contract for Mihailovic, who can move from a team used to paying DPs around $1 million or $2 million a year to a team that has shelled out far more for DPs in their history. This season Toronto was paying Federico Bernadeschi $6.3 million and Lorenzo Insigne an outrageous $15.4 million. Both of those contracts have been terminated. Sebastian Giovinco was paid $5.6 million in 2018. Jozy Altidore was making $4.9 million in 2020. Th entire Rapids roster right now earns just barely $10 mil. TFC have a history of backing up huge truckloads of cash for good soccer players. Mihailovic is only too happy open his pockets and oblige.
Second, Colorado has a well-earned reputation for only being willing to spend the bare minimum to stay relevant rather than splash real cash on players with the intention of winning the league. Hell, this team won’t even spend the money to fix the busted jumbotron, let alone invest in serious upgrades to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park to put it in line with other MLS stadia.2 In the Kroenke era, they’ve never bought a top-flight DP, but rather mollified the fan base with modest purchases here and there. The biggest move ever was to go get a past-his-prime Tim Howard on free from Everton. There’s also the teams more modest moves, like for Albanian International Shkëlzen Gashi, or for Panamanian prospect Gaby Torres, or FC Dallas stalwart Kellyn Acosta. But Colorado has never had moves to announce to the league they were determined to win it all. We’re known as ‘The Moneyball Rapids.’ They call us ‘Distressed Assets FC.’ Nobody has ever written the words ‘the ambitious Rapids have assembled a team that are odds on favorites to win MLS Cup.’ Because the Rapids under Kroenke Sports Entertainment have never been ambitious.
And Mihailovic saw this – he saw Colorado fail to spend big in the Winter before the 2025 season. The Rapids had some intriguing rescue projects: Reggie Cannon and Sam Vines; Chido Awaziem and Ted Ku-Dipietro. But these aren’t bonafide stars. Colorado isn’t making moves on par with ambitious teams like LAFC, who already had one of the best teams in the hemisphere with Dennis Bouanga and Hugo Lloris and Aaron Long, but just added Tottenham superstar Heung-min Son to the mix. This isn’t San Jose, with Christian Espinoza and Chico Arango. There are ambitious teams like Atlanta and Miami and New York. And there are also-rans. And Colorado are an also-ran.
I’m mad at Mihailovic, and disappointed. Yes, he’s an employee in a field where most guys have to retire by the age of 33. He’s only got so many productive years, so he needs to maximize those years while he can – make that paper, as they say. But couldn’t he wait till seasons end to request/force a move? Shouldn’t he first prove that he can take a so-so team and make them a playoff contender by achieving something for the collective rather than just show off some flashing individual stats?
I get that there’s always a tension between a player’s desire to help a team achieve it’s best outcome and a team and owner’s responsibility to compensate a player adequately for their skills. And that when these two are out of sync, a player departs. I guess I didn’t think Djordje was that under-appreciated by his contract, or by this team’s success. But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the market dictates all. Maybe a player as good as Mihailovic deserves $3 million or $5 million a year. And maybe he’s supposed to go and get that as soon as he can. It still feels wrong to me.
Mihailovic abrupt departure leaves Colorado high and dry – without a creative midfielder or a rock-solid dribbler to get us into the final third. Mihailovic really tied the team together nicely. And sure, maybe he was going to leave eventually - as all players do. But the timing of this move is unbearably bad and sudden it just makes you want to scream.
The Rapids now look at the final games of the season; (probably just) one in Leagues Cup and nine games in the regular season and think ‘what are we going to do?’ And that’s just one of a dozen other questions that need answering.
Questions like: Who will step in to be the main man in offense? How will the team react to being abandoned by their talisman? Is there any way for head coach Chris Armas to adjust the offense on the fly and get results? How does the Front Office add a player or two at the deadline to stabilize the squad? Can the Rapids rebuild and win in the next six to twelve months? And perhaps most importantly, how will supporters react to being subjected once again to another low-cost rebuild due to Stan and Josh Kroenke’s pathological inability to spend on the Colorado Rapids?3
Colorado is left in a daze - shocked by a move none of us saw coming. But maybe in hindsight, it shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise. Kellyn Acosta was frustrated with this team and forced his way out back in 2022. More beloved players like Sam Vines and Cole Bassett have felt the itch to move on and experience life with a more ambitious club. The club knew Moïse Bombito was a high-value asset on a mid-tier team that aspired to greater things, and so they got cash for him while he was a hot prospect in his ascendancy. So I get it - players seem Colorado not as a destination, but as a way-station. A stop on the way to someplace better.
The Rapids have been, for a long while now, ‘a cute little starter club for players before they get serious.’ And also ‘a team that isn’t willing to pay big money for players in an effort to win trophies.’ Mihailovic, I guess, figured this out and wasn’t happy with it. Fans have been witnessing it for a while, and I assure you that they aren’t happy with it. But it’s hard to tell if that matters at all for the powers that be.
If that’s our perpetual identity - the club that never wins trophies because players always wish they were someplace else - then I imagine fans will eventually adopt that attitude too, and move on to find another club when it suits them.
Rafa had 9.25 G+ in 2024 and 8.71 in 2025; Cole had 7.79 G+ in 2024.
DSGP has recently earned the monicker from fans of ‘Moldering Dick’s’. An unpleasant image to say the least.
What’s really frustrating is that Kroenke doesn’t mind spending to get players for the LA Rams or Arsenal Football Club. The Rams signed some guy named Poona Ford for 3 years and $29.7 million, and $26 million for two years of Davante Adams. Arsenal just nabbed Viktor Gyökeres for a transfer fee of $76 million and Martin Zubimendi for $81 million. Sure, those teams generate a lot of revenue globally. But who’s to say the Rapids couldn’t do that if KSE decided to actually spend some money on them?
Well said, Rabbi. Beyond the moves that other clubs are making, the lack of training facilities also bears a lot of fault here. You don't even have to go across the pond to see the difference in quality. Just look at the teams who do have ambition and how they run their clubs. The club can't get by with an apartment gym in the bowels of DSGP. As the league grows, so too are the profile of players coming in and if they see such a difference in quality when it comes to facilities within the own league it's no wonder players here force moves elsewhere. So long as the club ethos is set by a billionaire owner much more invested in Californian land development, this will always be Rapids fans lot in life; Under or over performing GM be damned.
I was shocked when I heard this move was done. Have you heard any rumors of any replacements that the Rapids may be looking into? Also, big picture, have you heard anything about the possibilities that Stan Kroenke might sell the team. It’s obvious the Rapids are not a priority for him.