The Colorado Rapids are close to signing unattached striker Yannick Boli to a deal using Targeted Allocation Money, sources have told MLSsoccer.com.
Rapids GM Padraig Smith told MLSsoccer.com last week that the club was “close to finalizing” a deal for a TAM-level striker. Sources said Tuesday that Colorado have offered Boli a contract and are expected to come to terms with the 30-year-old French-born Ivorian in the next few days.
Boli spent last year with Chinese club Dalian Yifang FC, recording 16 goals and five assists in 24 games to help them win China League One and earn promotion to the Chinese Super League. The club bought him out of his contract last month after they signed Yannick Carrasco and Nico Gaitain from Atletico Madrid in January, making him a free agent.
Prior to moving to China, Boli spent three years with Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala. He scored 15 goals in 23 games in his first season with the club to help them earn promotion to the Russian Premier League and ended his Anzhi career with 26 goals in 62 appearances in the first- and second-divisions.
A product of the Paris Saint-Germain youth system, he began his career in his native France, bouncing between Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 before moving to Bulgaria in 2011 and Ukraine in 2013.
The Rapids have had one of the more active winters in MLS, hiring head coach Anthony Hudson in November and acquiring 12 new players in the offseason. They used TAM on two of their signings: midfielder Jack Price and forward Joe Mason, both of whom moved to Colorado from English Championship club Wolverhampton.
The Rapids lost their 2018 MLS opener 2-1 at New England Saturday. They’ll have their second bye of the season this weekend before returning to action at home on March 24 against Sporting Kansas City (9 pm ET; MLS LIVE in US | MLS LIVE on DAZN in Canada).
