MLS: Top 5 Designated Player signings from 2020
3. Younes Namli
The Colorado Rapids had no Designed Players on the roster last season. That needed to change. But the notoriously stringent Rapids did not exactly rip open the purse strings. They signed just one DP, Younes Namli from PEC Zwolle. But it has been quite the revelation.
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The Rapids had talent at almost every position. A lot were seasoned MLS veterans who understood how to perform at a high level within the league. But they needed that elite difference-maker, someone who plays on a completely plane to everyone else on the pitch. In Namli, they might just have it.
“I’ve found, in my long history in soccer, that you get some players that come from overseas and they’re just different. They’re different than what we see here,” head coach Robin Fraser said on the eve of the Rapids’ season opener. “Younes is one of those guys.”
“He has a really nice ability to move with the ball, glides by players, is a good passer,” Fraser continued. “His passing range is really good on the move, whether it’s a long pass or a short pass, and he does a lot of things to unbalance defenders. [He is] the type of player who can help us in possession and help us in the final action, to create goals.”
Namli displayed this ability with a superb first goal in MLS, receiving the ball between the lines, slithering to the edge of the penalty area, and nestling a love low shot into the bottom corner. The goal handed the Rapids a 2-1 victory. He is a match-winner, and he might make Colorado a genuine contender.