After Cole Bassett scores his first goal for the US men’s national team, he gets his first taste of football overseas.
The 20-year-old Colorado Rapids midfielder has signed an 18-month loan with Feyenoord in the Netherlands, joining the remainder of this season and the entire following season with an option for the club to buy (he signed at the same time a three-year extension with the Rapids). Feyenoord, whose new CEO was former LA Galaxy general manager Denis T. Kloese, is currently third in the Eredivisie and is the third most successful club in Dutch history behind Ajax and PSV. Bassett, who turned down the opportunity to go to Benfica last August, scored the late-game winning goal for the United States in their 1-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in a friendly match last month. This was Bassett’s first match for the senior national team.
Bassett has scored 13 goals and 11 assists in 72 MLS games (52 starts) over the past four seasons, making him a regular player for Colorado in 2021 as he climbed to the top of the Western Conference. He became the latest US international to leave MLS for opportunities abroad this winter. Ricardo Pepe left FC Dallas for Augsburg in the Bundesliga for a fee of $20 million, while team-mate Daryl Dyke left Orlando City for Premier League West Bromwich on a $9.5 million deal. James Sands is also on the move, signing with Scottish champion Rangers on an 18-month loan deal from New York City. He made his club debut this week. Meanwhile, US goalkeeper Matt Turner has reportedly been the subject of an offer from Arsenal.
At Feyenoord, which has been knocked out of all its cup competitions and only relegated to league matches, Bassett will team up with the likes of Iranian superstar Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Reiss Nelson on loan from Arsenal. The club’s main scorer is veteran Dutchman Brian Linsen, who scored 11 goals in second place in the league after Ajax star Sebastian Haller (12). While the Netherlands has regularly been the home of American international players, Feyenoord does not have a rich history of American players, although Corey Gibbs had a short stint there in 2005-2006.
Meanwhile, The Rapids have kept busy outside of Bassett’s loan. The club has replaced American midfielder Klein Acosta with LAFC while signing defenders Keegan Rosenberry and Danny Wilson and midfielders Marc Anthony Kay and Jack Price. Colorado also signed Honduran international midfielder Brian Acosta as a free agent after being selected for the MLS Re-Entry Draft. He was recently with FC Dallas.
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