Ralph Priso Trade to Vancouver: Potential Unfulfilled. Good Luck.

COMMERCE CITY – The Colorado Rapids have traded midfielder Ralph Priso to Vancouver Whitecaps, the club announced Tuesday morning. As first reported by Tom Bogert of The Athletic, Colorado receive a first and third round pick in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft. The trade includes up to $150,000 in General Allocation incentives. Bogert reported but the club did not confirm a sell-on clause.

Priso joined the Rapids in July 2022 as part of the package that sent Mark-Anthony Kaye to Toronto FC. Priso made 14 starts and 32 appearances in MLS play in almost two years with the Burgundy Boys. He was brought in partially because then head coach Robin Fraser knew him from their mutual time in Toronto.

It didn’t work out. Priso did not appear to be making progress. He’s an athlete. He runs hard. He wasn’t good enough in possession. He was at the center of Colorado’s issue last year with turning the ball over in midfield and not dealing with the ensuing counter attack well enough. Sometimes when he got stuck in, it didn’t go well. He averaged a yellow card every 128 minutes in 2023. His lack of emotion when things went poorly didn’t help him with the fanbase, to the extent that matters.

He was particularly poor at Minnesota , allowing an easy goal and conceding a penalty. The Rapids lost 3-0. It was Fraser’s final game as manager.

The offseason saw him go from first central midfielder off the bench to falling below Oliver Larraz and Jasper Löffelsend on the depth chart. Like other recent departures, he wasn’t going to play. It was time.

The fact that new manager Chris Armas loves young players who press and he’s getting traded is kind of a red flag. There has to be a player in there. Maybe Vancouver can bring that out of him. He’ll get minutes with all the Whitecaps who will get national team call ups this year. Going back up to Canada might do him some good.

Colorado got a haul for the 21-year-old given what Rapids fans think of him. Two draft picks means something for the Rapids FO. The Caps should finish in the top third of MLS this year, so Colorado isn’t getting a Generation Adidas player directly from these picks. But these are more assets for Pádraig Smith to make SuperDraft magic with. The conditional GAM and sell-on clause will make Colorado whole should Priso achieve his potential. Good business.

Priso won’t have to wait long to play his former team. Vancouver travels to DICK’s Sporting Goods Park on May 15. The teams will rematch at BC Place on June 1.

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

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