Shane O’Neill is finally leaving home. After much speculation the Colorado Rapids announced on Friday that the 22-year old defender’s rights have been sold Cypriot side Apollon Limassol.
O’Neill, one of the Rapids first-ever Homegrown Players, is considered to be one of the top young defenders in all of American soccer. Originally gaining prominence as part of the 2013 Rapids side that went undefeated in nine matches and eventually earned a playoff spot in the MLS Western Conference. A consistent starter at right-back and occasionally in the defensive-midfield, O’Neill made 52 with his boyhood club 48 of which were starts.
But O’Neill’s relationship with the Rapids seemed to sour in 2015. He made just 5 appearances (4 starts) for the club and has not played in a match since June the 24th. National Team duty seemed to play a role in his lack of club time; O’Neill is a regular for the United States under-23 Men’s National Team and played in the Toulon Tournament earlier this year.
In May in article written by MLS Soccer.com’s Marco Cummings, O’Neill was asked about juggling national team and club duty. He told Cummings, “That’s the challenging thing. You go away and you feel like you played really well but you come back and you have to come back to square one because you weren’t here.”
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In the same article, Rapids coach Pablo Mastroeni defended his lineup choices saying, “It’s about trying to figure out tactically what makes sense. There’s no real depth chart. Bobby has been playing well. Shane has played well. There are no guarantees this year and everyone has to earn their spot every day.”
If playing time is something that O’Neill is looking for then he will certainly get it at Limassol. The club finished third last season in the Cypriot First Division (18-5-9, 59 points). But what was ultimately their undoing was their defending; the club 41 goals last season with put them right in the middle of the league. O’Neill has showed during his time with the Rapids that he is an excellent marker and can make the decisive clear when needed. What will be interesting to see is how he adapts to playing outside of altitude on an everyday basis.
For the Rapids this move draws questions about the club’s use of young players. The team sold former first round pick Deshorn Brown earlier this season to Valerenga so this is not the first promising young player that the Rapids have sold. Other young players with high upside, midfielders Dillon Serna and Dillon Powers, have seen their minutes cut this season.
In Mastroeni’s defense the Rapids back four has done quite well this year without O’Neill. The club has only allowed 22 goals this year which is tied for best in the league with the Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Mastroeni’s back four of Bobby Burling, Jared Watts, Drew Moor, and James Riley has kept matches close for the Rapids and given their team an opportunity to earn points.
The flaw in the Rapids logic is that if they no longer want these younger players it is in their best interest to play them and ultimately drive up their transfer value. Although the O’Neill move will give the Rapids a nice little boost in funds (the deal according to transfemarkt was worth 350,000 Euros) they probably could have received more for O’Neill given his pedigree and that he would likely be able to earn a work permit easily (he is a dual citizen of the United States and the Republic of Ireland).
To replace O’Neill, the Rapids announced that they had signed former Orlando City S.C. defender Sean St. Ledger. St. Ledger made 15 appearances with the Purple Lions before being released on Monday due to “breach of club policy“. He will be available for Saturday night’s match against the Columbus Crew (8pm EST MLS Live).