Benny Feilhaber says that the Colorado Rapids knew he was frustrated with how things were going at the club this season ahead of the midfielder being traded to Sporting Kansas City earlier this week.
Feilhaber played in Kansas City from 2013 through 2017 before moving to Los Angeles FC for a season. After the 2018 season he moved to Colorado as a free agent, but was traded back to SKC just 10 matches into the 2019 season with the Rapids still searching for their first win of the campaign.
The stuttering form saw the club sack manager Anthony Hudson on May 1 and had midfielder Feilhaber ready to move to greener pastures as well.
“For me I knew it was going to be a process there, but I think everybody that was part of that organization envisioned something different for the first 10 games of the year,” Feilhaber said during a press conference.
“Having said that, it didn’t go according to plan and not what I imagined. I’m 34 years old. I don’t know how many more years I’m going to play. I want to be playing on a team that’s competitive and fighting for championships.”
The midfielder says he did not directly request a trade, but that Colorado understood his frustrations with the club's form and his want to play for a winner.
When the chance to return to Kansas City became an option, Feilhaber says he was elated to make the move.
“I think they understood my position,” he said of the Rapids. “Obviously when I went there I thought we would be something where, I think everybody over there thought it would be something different than the first 10 games showed. They knew I wanted to be competitive and I was a bit frustrated with how things had gone.
"Those were the conversations and once I found out Kansas City was a team that was interested, I obviously told them I’d love to go there.”
While the Rapids have picked up just two points from 10 games so far this season, Sporting has faced its share of struggles as well.
Peter Vermes' side hasn't won a match since thumping the Montreal Impact 7-1 back in March and currently sits on just 10 points through nine matches.
But Feilhaber is confident that the talent in the squad is still enough for them to compete with the best MLS has to offer.
“Some of the quality isn’t healthy right now,” he said. “But the quality is there to become a championship team this year, or else I wouldn’t have come here, or I wouldn’t have wanted to come. I guess theoretically it’s not my choice, but I really wanted to come here and that was one of the reasons why.”
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