Photo credit: Morgan Whittaker / Instagram
Exact transfer fee yet to be disclosed, but believed to be at or above $10 million
The Colorado Rapids are close to getting their guy.
Sources confirmed to Rocky Mountain Soccer Journal that the club is finalizing a deal to acquire Middlesbrough winger Morgan Whittaker for what will likely be a club-record inbound fee. Ben Jacobs of talkSPORT was the first to report the deal.
The fee has yet to be disclosed, but it’s believed to be at or above $10 million, which would smash the inbound record set last year for Paxten Aaronson. Rapids coach Matt Wells told media after the Rocky Mountain Cup match last Saturday that the club had multiple active $10+ million offers out for players.
If and when the transfer is finalized, the Rapids will finally have a proven goalscorer on the wing who has done so for multiple years at a higher level than MLS. The profile differs from the exciting prospects fans are accustomed to the Rapids getting. Even Aaronson wasn’t much more than a prospect at his position, given his age and production, even if he was at an above average club in a top-5 league (Eintracht Frankfurt).
Whittaker, 25, has played for five teams in the English Championship since 2019, most recently with Middlesbrough since January of 2025. His career took off with Plymouth Argyle in the 2023-24 season, when he scored 20 goals and provided eight assists in 50 appearances. After a couple of down years, he led Middlesbrough in goals and assists last season with 14 and seven, respectively.
RMSJ spoke with Middlesbrough beat reporter Craig Johns, who writes for Teesside Live, to get a better idea of the type of player the Rapids are getting in Whittaker.
“Get him the ball in the right area and he will make things happen,” Johns told RMSJ. “His 14 goals and 7 assists last season are testament to a player with bags of technical quality.”
The tape proves that notion to be correct in a highlight-package vacuum. On the right wing, Whittaker has a sweet left foot that loves to find goal from distance, which is something that couldn’t be said for Dante Sealy, who was Rapids coach Matt Wells’ first attempt at a franchise inverted winger.
He’s got plenty of quality on the ball on the wing, and loves a cut to the middle before a shot. He’s also got a very good ability to not telegraph when a shot’s coming, which has surely contributed to his high scoring marks. He’s scored a few wonderful free kicks as well.
Off the ball, he’s a good mover when he’s on it. He drifts toward the middle when the ball’s on the other wing and puts himself in great spots to find first-time finishes inside the box. That could pay dividends for the Rapids, who have been painfully missing a player who drifts to the penalty spot to receive low crosses. He could end up making current Rapids right winger Georgi Minoungou — who specializes in finding passes to the spot after beating defenders to the byline — look a lot better in the coming months.
Whittaker ranked in the top 8% among Championship wingers in every shooting stat displayed on Fotmob during last season. He’s slightly above average in chance creation, though his raw assist numbers and expected assists were among the league’s best. He’s also used to playing in a possession-heavy system — Boro led the Championship with an average of just less than 60% possession.
He ranks poorly among wingers defensively, which is the gripe Johns and many Middlesbrough fans shared about Whittaker. Johns said Boro coach Kim Hellberg has worked heavily with Whittaker to improve his defense, but he continues to “switch off at times and neglect his defensive duties, leaving the right back exposed.”
That could be harmful in a league full of swift, counterattacking wingers like MLS, but the Rapids’ defense has been playing out of its mind since the World Cup break, save for a nightmare 3-0 loss to San Diego. Outside back is arguably the team’s deepest position at the moment.
Johns also said that at times, Whittaker can be easily bumped off the ball and concede possession, but that he might be more fit in MLS from that standpoint, as opposed to the Championship’s notorious physicality.
Johns added that Whittaker is a soft spoken and shy individual, at least around the press. As is also common with Rapids wingers of the present and recent past — think Calvin Harris and Minoungou — he said Whittaker is nice and mild-mannered.
The Rapids have completely overhauled their attack in this summer window, officially adding a striker (Sayed Abu Farkhi) and an attacking midfielder (Youssef Maziz) while talks are reportedly close for Whittaker and another winger: Ibrahim Sadiq from AZ Alkmaar. Colorado is reportedly close to sending star striker Rafael Navarro to St. Louis CITY as well.
Club president Pádraig Smith promised a bold transfer window after Lucas Herrington’s sale to Hull City. It took a while, but he and the Rapids’ front office are delivering on that front. The MLS secondary transfer window closes Wednesday afternoon.
