Colorado Rapids Center Back Trade: Pids Acquire Chidozie Awaziem and Ian Murphy

Update: This trade became official Monday afternoon. The original version of this article was updated to reflect those details.

COMMERCE CITY – Colorado Rapids have reportedly made a trade with FC Cincinnati as first reported by Tom Bogert of GiveMeSports. Sources confirmed the details to Burgundy Wave Monday morning. Colorado will acquire center backs Chidozie Awaziem and Ian Murphy in exchange for $1 million plus add ons up to $200K in performance incentives. Cincinnati retain on a sell-on percentage should either player be moved within or outside MLS.

The Rapids went into this offseason with three key targets: A center back to replace Moïse Bombito, an upgrade at winger, and a defensive midfielder given the Lamine Diack loan did not work out. They have surely filled one of those holes.

Meet the players:

Chidozie Awaziem will turn 28-years-old on January 1. He joined Cincinnati in the summer transfer window, playing 14 games for Cincy including three playoff matches. The transfer fee was believed to be €500,000. His contract is guaranteed through 2025 with team options for 2026 and 2027. His guaranteed compensation this year was $1.2 million.

The 6’4″ defender previously had been at Boavista and before that Porto in Portugal. He was mostly a bench player at those clubs and spent a good amount of time on loan at smaller leagues throughout Europe. He has been capped 33 times for his native Nigeria going back to 2017.

Ian Murphy will be 25-years-old in mid January. He was selected 14th overall in the 2022 MLS SuperDraft, after several other center backs. He’s proved to be maybe the best in that class though. Murphy has gotten regular minutes in MLS all three years he was at Cincy. He made 39 appearances all-comps in 2024 with all the injuries at the back. He was mostly a substitute come playoff time.

He signed a contract extension in August through 2026 with an option for 2027. This year, his guaranteed compensation was $137K, close to what Michael Edwards made.

American Soccer Analysis has both players has above average dribblers and passers for center backs. Awaziem is weak on interrupting. Murphy needs to improve on his receiving. Awaziem’s attacking and chance creation stats are off the chart with a 533 minute sample size.

They’re tall possession-oriented defenders. One right footed (Awaziem), one left footed (Murphy). Those are Pádraig Smith’s ideal center backs.

Thoughts from Cincinnati Soccer Talk:

“Coach” Brad Gough from Cincinnati Soccer Talk has been in touch and had this to say on Murphy and Awaziem:

Murphy has all the marks of a talented player whose development was delayed by coming through the college ranks instead of an academy system. He has improved year over year for FC Cincinnati, and I expect him to keep getting better. 

As a defender, Ian has struggled at times in physical duels and in timing his tackles. But again, he has gotten better on both of these in his three seasons with the club. He is a good 1-v-1 defender but lacks the elite agility to be a true shut-down defender against the better wingers in the league. I think that is why he regressed a bit for FCC this year – with the injuries along the back line and with an inexperienced wingback playing ahead of him, he was asked to defend against opposition winger in isolation up the touchline too often. Ian also has above average speed for a center back, but isn’t a burner by any stretch. He has great burst and recovery speed, but lacks the agility to put his foot in the ground, turn, and then run to make up for a mistake. For these reasons I’d put him at only an average transition defender.

Murphy is also a very capable player in possession. He is not an incredible long passer, and won’t often hit raking diagonals or play teammates in behind defenses. However, he is a very good progressive passer, and can definitely help a team break lines from the center back position.

My verdict on Murphy is that he has the potential to continue to grow into a really solid MLS veteran center back, but doesn’t have the ceiling of a player that will get European interest or national team looks.

Chido stepped into the FCC back line and gave it stability almost immediately. He wasn’t with the team long enough to really assess how good he can be, but he showed enough to justify his price tag. Chido reads the game really well, and will take up good positions to block passes and get interceptions. He is a good but not great 1-v-1 defender, and will get drawn into a lot of fouls if he’s matched up on shifty players who can dribble. Chido is a player who, defensively, can be part of a really solid unit if he has solid players around him, but isn’t going to take a shaky unit and make it solid all by himself. All of this rests on the caveat that we never got to see Chido play in a back four. He was always the central player or the RCB in a back three.

Like Murphy, Chido is a value-added in possession. He is a really good passer, and unlike Murphy, he can absolutely hit a 60 yard diagonal into the path of a streaking winger. He is calm on the ball, and would be a good part of any system that wants to build out of the back.

My verdict on Chido is that he will never be a Best XI MLS defender, and you shouldn’t build a back line around him. However, he legitimately has the talent to be part of a best-in-MLS back line with the right pieces around him.

What this means going forward:

With this, Colorado has five center backs under contract for 2025 including Andreas Maxsø, Nate Jones, and Daniel Chacón. That’s the same number they had this past season. Chacón spent the first half of the year finishing rehab on a torn ACL. Jones was with Rapids 2 becoming familiar with the professional game. The team did start the year with Bombito, so let’s call it six center backs.

Chris Armas did play a 3-4-3 in the final playoff game and said it was an interesting formation for the club next year. The coaching staff does see some CB potential in Reggie Canon and Keegan Rosenberry. Colorado likely isn’t bringing in more than one other center back, even if they play to play a back three. Especially if Chacón and Jones progress next year. It’s hard to see the club bringing back both Lalas Abubakar and Edwards.

Abubakar would need to take a pay cut. He’d likely be on the bench and at nearly 30-years-old, he’d be in the way of younger defenders on the depth chart. Colorado got a player in Murphy who makes the same amount of money as Edwards but was a regular starter on a team that won the Supporters’ Shield. Unless there’s something else in the works (Maxsø going back to Europe, Chacón going home to Costa Rica), I don’t think Abubakar and Edwards return to Colorado.

Also, that $1 million + add ons in GAM is likely the full GAM Colorado would have gotten for the Bombito transfer. They still have cash on hand from that sale, but this trade likely offsets the max money they were able to convert into GAM.

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

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