Colorado’s celebrations after announcing the acquisition of highly-regarded youth prospect Braian Galván were cut short at the eleventh hour after a letter from the winger’s current club was leaked to Argentinian media. In the document, Club Atlético Colón asserted that the Rapids had violated FIFA rules when they finalized a pre-contract agreement with Galván Thursday morning.

However, a reliable source from within the Colorado Rapids organization has since confirmed with Rapids Republic that Major League Soccer is fully supporting the acquisition despite protests from the Argentinian club.

The letter – addressed from Argentinian litigators purporting to represent Colón – alleges that Galván was not eligible to sign a pre-contract agreement with the Colorado Rapids, in part due to the existence of unilateral, club-held options on Galván’s current deal. Additionally, the letter makes the astonishing and unprecedented claim that an injury sustained by Galván in 2019 rendered six months of his contract invalid.

The source, who wishes to remain anonymous, maintained that the Rapids were confident that they had done “nothing wrong” during their negotiations with Galván and that MLS was prepared to defend the club in any potential litigation.

Notably, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled against the validity of the reported clause in Galván’s contract in a 2005 matter involving Carlos Bueno and Cristian Rodríguez. The Bueno-Rodríguez case uniformly applied the longstanding rules impacting UEFA clubs as a result of the Bosman ruling to CONMEBOL nations. In short, the rulings allow South American players to begin negotiating an agreement with a new club in the final six months of their current contract.

Galván’s current contract with Colón expires on June 30, 2020.

The source confirmed that the Rapids remain open to talks with Colón to acquire Galván before the MLS Primary Transfer Window closes on May 5, 2020.

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