Winds of change blow through draft: Baffling trade between Philadelphia Union and Colorado Rapids shows altered attitudes in MLS player acquisition

For the Rapids, this all made a lot of sense. For some time, they have used the SuperDraft more efficiently than most sides. That can come in multiple ways. In some instances, its the acquisition of high level talent that can make an impact in the first team - immediately or a few years down the line.

"I think it comes from a belief that there's just inefficiency in player development. It's hard to predict outcomes," Taylor said. "We live in a on a huge continent with 30 professional clubs, and we're all running around trying to find the best players.... and so you have these inefficiencies that are out there for teams to take advantage of."

This is a geographic issue, too. Colorado is, in the broader scheme of things, an isolated MLS club with a less rich talent pool to dip into than most. And while Taylor insisted that the Rapids have made strides in improving their academy setup, college soccer is vital for their improvement as a club.

"If it's not in our local market, we got to get on minimum two-and-a-half-hour flight to find a decent game of football someplace. It's just hard. So that makes it a challenge to keep tabs and properly evaluate and track talent across the U.S.," Taylor said.

And that's where the draft comes into play. Most of the players the Rapids bring in are known quantities. Sometimes Colorado has tracked them since their youth or club soccer days. In some cases, they have tried to sign them to academy deals, only to see them choose the college route instead.

"We might have tried to recruit in the academy space and they don't want to relocate for whatever reason, and they don't go to an MLS Academy, and then they go to college. So we have information on some of those guys," Taylor said.

But college consolidates all of them. There are very few surprises these days. The Rapids tend to keep tabs on all of the top freshmen. Older players are either siphoned out of the system, or too far down the line in their development to be worthy of a pick or roster spot, Taylor admitted.

Still, there are some gems. Colorado knows this well. They executed one of the best value-for-money moves in recent memory with the signature of Moise Bombito in 2023. The Canadian center back had an unusual career path. After spending his youth career in Montreal, he went to junior college, before rounding out his collegiate career in New Hampshire.

He then signed a Generation Adidas contract, and went 3rd overall to Colorado. After impressing in MLS, the Rapids sold him to Nice in a deal worth up to almost $11 million. Eight figures came off a player they had spent next to nothing on.

The Philadelphia approach is markedly different. Look at the outgoing transfers from MLS clubs to Europe - which tends to be a solid indicator of player pools - and the results suggest that the Union academy is an excellent developer and exporter of talent. Brenden Aaronson, Paxten Aaronson, Cavan Sullivan, Mark McKenzie and others all came out of Philadelphia. Each of them routinely nets them a handsome transfer fee - which can then be reinvested.

"If we want to also drive our revenue concept by capitalizing on the investment we are doing in the academy with player sales. Then we need to adjust a little bit to what the transfer market requires from us," Union sporting director Ernst Tanner said.

And more importantly, they can be embedded into the first team. Quinn Sullivan and Jack McGlynn are just recent examples of academy talent who have made an impact at the top level. Others will undoubtedly come. A look at the Union's success in youth tournaments also paints a valuable picture. They have won two straight U17 Generation Adidas Cups. Their teams routinely beat top academies in Europe and South America. Piece it all together, and the picks simply aren't worth it.

"The answer is quite simple, because we have so much academy talent coming up that we almost don't have any place or any roster spots for additional players," Tanner said. "And we are of the opinion that our academy boys are superior."

And for the young players, the ones with resale value? The Union would rather them come out of their own academy, coached in their way, at the right age, to move on.

"The transfer market is getting younger and younger, and the main targets right now are somewhere in between 20 and 24 and that's a little bit late when you get the player for when he is already at 21 or 22," Tanner said. "You are losing a lot of development time because what you want to sell."

Still, Tanner admitted that this remains something of a wager. There is, he insisted, talent to be found coming out of the collegiate ranks.

"It's a gamble, a little bit. You can get a decent player, that's for sure," Tanner admitted.

But those two aren't the only MLS clubs with differing approaches. Charlotte FC, which came into the league in 2022, lies somewhere in the middle. They are perhaps more talent-rich than Colorado. But they have also used their draft picks in smart ways, rounding out their first team with a number of faces from the college ranks.

"[College has] been a key part of our roster build," Charlotte FC assistant GM Bobby Belair said. "We came in three years ago, and we found it really difficult to find domestic players... so our strategy was, 'Look, let's go out and be really good in the college game.'"

It has helped Charlotte become more sustainable, too. At first, Belair said, the club relied heavily on significant investment in international talent to compete. And while their expansion draft allowed for them to pick up a few pieces - and trade for some GAM cash - the selections from their early days in the college draft are starting to come good.

"Now we have starters that are coming through such as Andrew Privett and Patrick Agyemang," Belair said.

And perhaps more importantly, Charlotte are comfortable letting their college talents take time to develop. It's a question of patience.

"Ultimately, we just have to admit that our development system here in America is completely different than the rest of the world. And if people can't get through that idea that some of these players are just going to be a few years behind normally when players would be coming out and making their professional debuts, then it's OK," Belair said.

It comes down to more than just the draft, but Charlotte has steadily improved over its trio of campaigns in MLS. Last year, it made the playoffs outright for the first time. In 2025, there will be other moves - a transfer for Newcastle winger Miguel Amiron is rumored - but perhaps another draft prospect could put them over the edge.

Still, there remains the question of what's next. MLS is becoming more relevant on a global scale, academies are growing, and youth investment is only going to increase. There is talk of the college system switching to a fall-spring calendar to mimic the sport worldwide. At his pre MLS Cup state of the league address, commissioner Don Garber admitted that the draft might be less relevant going forward. The trade between Philadelphia and Colorado suggests that some clubs are thinking that way.

But there are others who insist otherwise. For Colorado, that means looking beyond U.S. borders and into Canada. The Northern neighbors have just three MLS clubs, a far less-developed professional league, but deep roots in the college soccer system. Bombito, who started for Canada in the Copa America semifinal, stands as evidence that there is still value to be found through the draft.

"You got to pay attention to the Canadian Premier League and players coming out of clubs like St Laurent or Vaughn FC, because there's good players there... Toronto and Vancouver and Montreal cannot capture all of the players in their markets. That's why you see so many top college players being Canadian," Taylor said.

And perhaps that's what really defines it all. Colorado views this aging system through a proactive lens - a means for value when others have turned in a different direction. Philadelphia have all-but shunned it altogether. Other clubs, such as Charlotte, are somewhere in between. Either way, there is still talent. It's just a question of whether clubs choose to use it.

"There are still players to be found. And until there ceases to be players to be found in the collegiate draft, we will continue to pay attention," Taylor said.