After a long wait, Charles Eloundou has finally set foot in Colorado. The 18-year-old Cameroonian forward arrived in Denver on Wednesday night after initially signing with MLS and being acquired by the Rapids on January 25 in a weighted lottery. Caught in bureaucratic red tape for the last nine months, Eloundou remained in Cameroon and played for Garoua-based club Coton Sport in the fall.



Eloundou will be at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Thursday morning to meet with the club, assess his fitness and begin acclimating to Denver. He would not be eligible to play first team matches for the Rapids until the 2014 season, as the roster freeze date passed in September.



“We’re glad Charles has finally arrived here in Denver, and we’re excited to have him meet our technical staff and the rest of the players,” said Rapids Technical Director Paul Bravo. “It’s been a long wait but we didn’t want to give up on being able to have another talented young attacking player in our team. We hope to help him get used to Denver and MLS in the coming weeks and months with a view toward the 2014 season and beyond.”



Eloundou has played for the Cameroon U-20 National Team throughout 2012 and 2013, and scored eight goals in seven matches during U-20 African Nations Cup qualifying in 2012. Those performances led him to be included with the full Cameroonian National Team for the Nehru Cup in India in late 2012, where he played four matches. He played club soccer most recently with Coton Sport in his native Yaoundé.