Rapids Designated Player Rafael Navarro, who had previously been on loan from Campeonato Brasileiro Série A side Palmeiras, is now officially staying with Colorado after a permanent transfer was agreed upon by all parties. The forward will be on contract with the club through 2027, with a club option for an additional year.
The decision to retain Navarro comes as a result of his dominant run of form in 2024, with the Brazilian on pace for the best season of his professional career. Just 20 games into the MLS regular season, Navarro has logged 11 goals which puts him into a tie for the fifth most in the entire league. He has also recorded three assists, giving him the second most goal contributions on the team this season with 14.
While the success has been there this year, it did not come easy for the Cabo Frio, Brazil, native.
When Navarro came over to Colorado in July of last year, it was clear that there would need to be a growing period for him to get to the point that he is at today. The forward tallied one goal and one assist in 10 appearances last season, and while the numbers were not there, every player in the locker room could see exactly what he could provide.
“If you were in training with us last year, you would have seen that he has the quality to score [these] goals,” Homegrown midfielder Cole Bassett explained after Navarro surpassed the ten-goal mark this season. “We have a team this year that creates chances for him, and he doesn’t need many to put them away.”
What can’t be looked over when talking about Navarro’s resurgence are the offseason additions to the club, such as head coach Chris Armas, midfielders Djordje Mihailovic, and midfielder Omir Fernandez, among others. These additions have proved to complement Navarro’s style of play while also allowing him to grow into new scenarios on the pitch. With star power throughout the pitch for Colorado, all the attention is not solely focused on Navarro and his lethal finishing capabilities.
Apart from having more weapons around him, Navarro has found a consistency in his play that was hard to come by last season. Armas accredited part of that consistency to the belief that the forward has in himself:
“Rafa is playing with confidence, he’s getting into spots, he’s pretty ruthless around the goals these days," he said.
Ruthless he has been. Navarro’s stellar season so far includes a five-match goal scoring stretch, matching the longest streak that the club has had since 2010 when Omar Cummings accomplished the feat. The streak on its own is impressive, but it becomes even more so when seeing that it came against some of the top sides in MLS this season such as Real Salt Lake, New York City FC, and Minnesota United FC.
The rate at which Navarro has been scoring in 2024 is something that the club has not seen in years. After recording his tenth goal in just 19 matches to start the year, Navarro became the fastest player to record double-digit goals in a single season in over a decade. The forward’s feat is now ranked fourth in Rapids history, but he is the first player to do so since Connor Casey set the club record of 14 matches in 2009.
While the stats show it, anyone watching Navarro and the Rapids this season can see the difference in play. Whether it be a clinical finish off a fast break, holding up play for the midfield, or sinking a penalty kick, the 24-year-old has shown growth in just about every facet of his game.
After seeing the stat line of his first season of play with Colorado, it would be easy to say that Navarro would not be a fit within this Rapids club. However, the attitude and drive that he brought every single day proved to coaches, players, and staff that there was an incredible amount of potential to unlock. That is what Armas has attempted to get out of every player since being appointed head coach this offseason, and Navarro’s progress is the perfect case study of that philosophy.
With Navarro now locked into a deal with the Rapids for multiple years, the club has another major piece to build around. As they currently sit at fourth in the Western Conference in the hopes of making a playoff run, Rafael Navarro will play an integral role in how far this team goes in their quest for glory in MLS, and now, he’s here to stay.