Connor Ronan got his first competition minutes under his belt with the Rapids on Saturday night in Colorado's preseason scrimmage with Orlando City SC. The first 45 minutes in Exploria Stadium saw the midfielder building out of the back, forcing turnovers and slotting passes past the Lions' defense to his new teammates.
Since joining Colorado in Orlando, Ronan has dived straight into the grind for two-a-day training sessions in preparation for the upcoming MLS season. His total 12 goals and 18 assists throughout his young career primes the Rapids for an even more dangerous presence in the attack.
“From the first day I've come in, I think the lads have been really good. The staff told me what they expected of me and I think just to get that chance today in the game to kind of put it into practice, I think it went well, I think we've had good spells on the ball,” said Ronan following the scrimmage.
The Irish youth international joins a Rapids squad supported by fellow newcomers to the club such as Calvin Harris and Kévin Cabral, as well as Rapids’ fan favorites like Diego Rubio, Cole Bassett and Jonathan Lewis.
“He’s a very good player, obviously coming from the Premier League, you can see he understands the game at a high level,” said Lewis. “[This offseason] we brought in players that are going to contribute to the squad and be big pieces for us.”
Ronan and Rapids captain Jack Price have history in the middle of the pitch, as they played for Wolverhampton together before Price signed with Colorado in 2019. Their combined skills and approaches to the game complement one another to create real opportunities in the offense.
“Price is a big talker on the pitch and I think I'm quiet off the pitch, but on the pitch, I like to be quite vocal,” said Ronan. “So I think we complement each other quite well that way and it's easy to play with him. He tells you what he wants of you all the time and you just get on with it with him. It's easy.”
The Rapids’ head coach Robin Fraser is excited to see where Ronan can elevate the midfield’s ability to execute out of the back and create unlikely chances to get the front line in the box.
“I thought he did really well [in the scrimmage],” Fraser said. “Early on when we were having trouble getting out of the back him and Jack worked well together to give options for the center backs to give us a number of different ways to get out and not knowing Connor really well, it's good to watch him and see how creative his mind is in terms of finding solutions to problems. He’s another player that's going to add know-how and experience and we look forward to the season with him.”
