Midfielder Kaye traded to Colorado UP NEXT
When Ecuadorian midfielder Jose Cifuentes joined the Los Angeles Football Club prior to the 2020 season, one of the first people to make him feel welcome was Mark-Anthony Kaye.
Two years into his experience in Los Angeles, Kaye, a Canadian international who moved from the United Soccer League to Major League Soccer ahead of LAFC’s inaugural season in 2018, had matured into a leading voice on and off the field for the Black & Gold.
“In training, he’d try to communicate with me and take me under his wing, which caught my attention,” Cifuentes said. “He’s the type of person that takes you in, calls you, makes you feel part of the team more than anything.”
Cifuentes and his Black & Gold teammates were informed Monday that the 26-year-old Kaye, who for most of July has been away at the Gold Cup with the Canadian men’s national team, will not return when the tournament concludes.
“I think the guys are sad,” first-year LAFC forward Corey Baird said. “Mark was obviously a big part of the locker room.”
LAFC confirmed that it traded the long-legged midfielder and a firstround selection in the 2022 MLS SuperDraft to the Colorado Rapids, who sit one spot above L.A. in the conference standings, for $1 million in general allocation money and a 2022 international roster slot.
“I would rather Mark was not in the Western Conference,” said LAFC copresident and general manager John Thorrington, who added that discussions about Kaye’s future with the club were ongoing since the preseason, “but we do at times have to make financially rational decisions.
“This is a significant transaction, as it should be for a player of Mark’s quality and experience. It does offer a lot of flexibility for us moving forward in how we want to go about improving the team. It will enable us to now spend this money and these resources in a way that we think can help fill the gap now vacated by Mark, as well as improve in other areas.”
Beginning with LAFC’s debut at Seattle on March 3, 2018, Kaye appeared in 77 league matches, starting 71 times, the third-highest total for the club.
Following its expansion season, LAFC re-signed Kaye for three years, including a club option for a fourth. During his threeplus years with the club, the 2019 MLS All-Star assisted on 17 goals and scored nine of his own.
The makeup of LAFC’s roster, notably at midfield, gave Thorrington and the coaching staff confidence that moving Kaye would not hurt the team’s competitiveness for the rest of 2021.
“We feel like we’ve gotten good efforts from different guys,” LAFC head coach Bob Bradley said. “Certainly Cifu’s emergence, his high level of play in this last stretch, is something that we’re all very excited about.”
Cifuentes has scored three times in the club’s past five appearances, including the game winner in Salt Lake City on July 3 after he replaced Kaye in what turned out to be the Canadian’s final match with the club.
Following its 2-2 draw at home Saturday against Vancouver, thanks to Cifuentes’ fifth goal of the year, LAFC (6-5-4, 22 points) hosts Minnesota United FC (6-5-3, 21 points) tonight at Banc of California Stadium.
Today: Minnesota United at LAFC, 7:30p.m., BSSC