Colorado Rapids Close to Signing Paxten Aaronson From Eintracht Frankfurt

Commerce City, CO – Burgundy Wave can confirm Colorado Rapids are in talks to sign Paxten Aaronson for potentially a club record deal. Aaronson has just started his second full season with Eintract Frankfurt in the Bundesliga. Tom Bogert and Braidon Nourse beat us to this news. The fee being negotiated is believed to be $7 million plus $1.5 in incentives as of Wednesday morning. It is expected the deal will make him a DP and the highest paid player at the club.

Paxten, age 21, is the younger brother of Brendan Aaronson. Both were products of the Philadelphia Union academy. He played two seasons for the first team, totaling 37 appearances. He moved to the German side in January 2023. He’s played just 14 times for their first team in two and a half years. He’s played for the second team and also had loan stints at FC Utrecht and Vitesse in the Netherlands. He’s been capped four times by the senior USMNT and was a part of the Gold Cup squad this past summer.

He’s mostly been a central attacking midfielder, occasionally playing on the left. By Eredivisie standards (an attack heavy league), he’s off the charts in attack creation and progressive possession statistics. In that regard, he’s similar to the now departed Djordje Mihailović, maybe better. He’s started regularly and balled out for a good team in the Netherlands, something Mihailović did not. Still, he and his brother are both known for their defensive work rates. Something Mihailović did not do as well in returning to MLS.

He was the Young Player of the Year in the Dutch first division. A league full of young talent they sell at profits to big five leagues. That’s bonafide credentials.

He would be a like-for-like replacement for Mihailović, but more on the press and run side than the score free kicks side. This would be an excellent signing given the circumstances of this transfer window.

Frankfurt payed a reported $4 million for the player. Transfermarkt values him at around $9.3 million. Given he hasn’t broken into Frankfurt’s team, he could be looking for a soft landing spot back in MLS. Frankfurt finished third in the Bundesliga last year. They’ve made plenty of profit on selling talent onward. Cutting bait on a prospect who needs out and breaking even or making a small profit is probably good for all parties.

Rapids President Pádraig Smith had said the club will not spend all (or the majority) the $8 million transfer fee for Mihailović on one player. That said, this move would most certainly would be a club record fee. The reported $7 mill + $1.5 mill would basically be all of the Djordje money after player and agent fees. With that transfer fee, one would expect him to be the highest paid player on the team and making at least as much as Mihailović was. There’s probably interest in him elsewhere in Europe, hence the elevated transfer fee and salary.

At that price, this is a gamble. Burgundy Wave has previously reported that the Mihailović acquisition from AZ Alkmaar was $3.6 million after incentives. With the $500,000 loan fee, Rafael Navarro totaled an acquisition cost of $4 million.

Spending $5-6 million on Aaronson would be good Rapids Math and money well spent. At the supposed price, this move would have to work out. The club isn’t in a position to have a big swing-and-miss like with Cabral and other DPs. This would be so similar to the other moves they’ve made for fringe USMNT players who are coming back after not establishing themselves in Europe.

The other question is what this means roster wide. Kévin Cabral and Rafael Navarro still occupy Designated Player spots. Alexis Manyoma just became the club’s fourth U-22 signing. Ted Ku-DiPietro is another and the most likely to be bought down. It would take some maneuvering of the MLS roster rules, but the club should be able to make it work. Aaronson could end up being a DP or U-22 player.

The club eventually wants to have 2 DPs and 4 U-22. At $7 million, Aaronson would most certainly have to be a DP. Colorado could transition to the 2 DPs, 4 U-22 players in 2026 when Cabral’s contract expires.

Burgundy Wave will continue to cover this developing story. Check out our transfer tracker for further details.

Photo Credit: Isaiah Vazquez via Getty Images

Thank you for reading Burgundy Wave. Support us via our Patreon starting at $5/month. We’re always looking for new talent. Let us know if you’re interested in covering Colorado Soccer.