Source: Rapids add 21-year-old midfielder, former Leicester City product Sidnei  Tavares on Deadline Day loan deal

Considering its current position in the MLS standings, last place in the Western Conference, the Colorado Rapids were always going to have an active summer transfer window. Even on deadline day, the front office held onto its end of the bargain.

According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the Rapids are bringing in 21-year-old Portuguese midfielder Sidnei Tavares from Porto FC’s second team on a loan deal through June 2024. The U22 Initiative deal also includes a purchase option, which Colorado would be able to trigger at the end of, or before, the loan expires. It is Colorado’s fifth inbound move of the summer.

Tavares was a product of Leicester City’s academy in England. He played three times for the Foxes’ first team as he broke through at age 19, including two Premier League matches. He then signed with Porto FC for its reserve team in the summer of 2021 and over two seasons has played 33 times. This season he has scored four goals while totaling 1,700 minutes in 28 appearances.

Colorado has remained active throughout the transfer window as the Rapids signed Serbian international Marko Ilić, Costa Rican defender Daniel Chacón (who was then loaned to Costa Rican side L.D. Alajuelense) and left back Andrew Gutman from Atlanta. Brazilian striker Rafael Navarro and now Tavares will join the Burgundy Boys on loan through June 30, 2024, with options to buy.

READ MORE

A lot of the summer is noise. Transfer rumours that never come to pass, B-teams playing each other thousands of miles from home, glorified training sessions in 40 degree heat.

But there are some golden nuggets of info amongst it all. A year ago, the signs of Leicester’s destruction were there well before the big kick-off: conceding slapstick set piece goals to National League outfits, conceding after 25 seconds to our feeder team, losing a key player to injury in the showpiece friendly for the second season in a row.

So with the 2023 pre-season campaign in the books, let’s take a look at what we’ve learned from it:

If you missed Leicester’s entire pre-season campaign then a) whew boy did you miss out and b) strap in for your first look at a bold (bald?) new era. Ricardo Pereira, who you may remember as a right back who’s barely played in two years, has been transformed into an auxiliary midfielder and the key cog in the Enzo Machine.

Ricardo and new signing Harry Winks are the heartbeat of Maresca’s master plan. Together in midfield they have allowed Leicester to dominate the likes of, er…Northampton and, briefly, Liverpool with a new style of play that’s like a firmware upgrade on the bad old days of Brendanball.

Be prepared for some tikeh taka from that central midfield pairing, as well as some potentially disastrous gaps in behind them when it doesn’t go quite to plan.

The second phase of the upgrade has left poor old Daniel Iversen staring at a one-way ticket to Stoke. Not content with four first team goalkeepers, Leicester added a fifth in the form of Mads Hermansen. While there was some initial talk that there would be a battle for the number one shirt between the two Danish friends, it’s pretty clear that the job is Hermansen’s.

The Madsman was immediately handed starting duties once he joined, while Iversen had sat behind Jakub Stolarczyk in the pecking order for the first couple of friendlies. Iversen’s lack of ability on the ball has cost him any chance of competing for the role.

The early signs on Hermansen have been entertaining, to say the least. He’s a far cry from the years of watching goalkeepers chip the ball out for a throw. Goalkeepers with supreme self-confidence on the ball can go one of two ways. Tune in to find out which one it is!

In the first analyses of the Leicester squad after relegation, there were two players we all agreed would be a part of the bid to get back to the big time. One was Iversen, while the other was a man who, in the words of a prominent Leicester analyst, was set to be the key, ‘a giant who should prove invaluable in the Championship’.

Right now the Leicester hive mind is staring at an 0 for 2 start. Harry Souttar did indeed look certain to step up, back at a level he’d excelled at before, once we’d cleared the decks of all the overpaid wastrels masquerading as competition for his centre back spot.

But someone forgot to post Enzo the memo. Souttar raced back from Australia duty for the first day of pre-season and all he got in return was about 45 minutes away at Port FC. On Sunday, where you might have expected to see Big Soutts directing his troops at the back, you’re going to find – and please sit down for this bit – Jannik Vestergaard instead.