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We’ve been hearing that the Colorado Rapids are looking to sign another striker and about a week ago, rumors started rumbling that the Rapids were close to signing someone at the TAM level. And today, we’ve finally got a name—Yannick Boli.
Rapids are close to signing French-born Ivorian striker Yannick Boli to a TAM deal, per sources.
— Sam Stejskal (@samstejskal) March 13, 2018
According to Stejskal, the Rapids offered the 30-year-old striker a contract on Tuesday and it should be a done deal “over the next few days.”
The French-born Ivorian started his career with Paris Saint-Germain after coming up through their youth system. He was with PSG until 2010, and then moved around to a few other club teams, including Chernomorets Burgas in Bulgaria, Zorya Luhansk in Ukraine, and Russia’s Anzhi Makhachkala. In Russia, he put in 26 goals in 62 appearances before moving to the Chinese club Dalian Yifang for the 2017 season. With Dalian Yifang, Boli had 16 goals and 5 assists in 24 appearances. Stejskal reported that the club bought out his contract, so Boli is a free agent.
In his 176 career appearances (which does not include his time with PSG II), Boli has 69 goals. Boli had one appearance with the Ivory Coast National Team in 2017.
ESPN’s Jeffrey Carlisle adds that “while Boli is capable of playing on the wing, he is considered to be a true No. 9, and will compete with Dominique Badji and recently acquired Joe Mason for playing time in manager Anthony Hudson’s 3-5-2.”