Rapids send star Djordje Mihailovic to Toronto FC for club-record transfer fee, sources say

Out of the burgundy and blue, the Colorado Rapids are without their best player.

The club is finalizing a deal to send star midfielder Djordje Mihailovic to Toronto FC, sources told The Denver Post on Monday. The deal is a cash transfer — a new mechanism for intra-league transactions this year — worth a club-record $8 million and up to an additional $1 million in performance incentives.

Colorado rejected two formal offers from Toronto to acquire Mihailovic before he told leadership he wanted the move and his mind was made up, a league source told The Post. The club’s front office was blindsided by Mihailovic’s decision.

Mihailovic’s perceived transfer value around the league was in the ballpark of $5 million, the source told The Post. But Toronto paid a bit of a premium for Mihailovic after two bids were rejected by a seller reluctant to sell.

Colorado had no interest in moving Mihailovic before the end of this season, the source said. The front office made multiple attempts to sway Mihailovic to stay in Colorado, but they were unsuccessful.

Mihailovic missed the Rapids’ second Leagues Cup match against Club Tijuana on Sunday due to “personal reasons.” As it turns out, he has played his last match as a Rapid.

Mihailovic was contracted to play in Colorado through 2027, with a club option for 2028, when he joined the team from the Dutch league’s AZ Alkmaar before the 2024 season. A new deal with Toronto is close to being completed and signed.

Toronto recently terminated Lorenzo Insigne’s and Federico Bernardeschi’s contracts, which offloaded just more than $21.5 million in 2025 salary. Consequently, it’s likely Mihailovic, a proven MLS difference-maker entering his prime at 26 years old, could see a massive raise in pay from his $1.775 million Rapids salary this season.

Toronto is led by former Rapids coach Robin Fraser, but the two did not overlap in Colorado.

The Rapids won’t pursue just one player with their newfound bucket of cash, the league source indicated, but will likely reinvest in three or four different starting-caliber players instead to round out a roster that started the year deep but is now dwindling.

In a month’s time, the Rapids have sold their best defender in center back Chidozie Awaziem, waived their highest-paid winger in Kévin Cabral and lost the face of the franchise in Mihailovic. The Rapids are sitting in ninth place in the Western Conference — good for a play-in game — with just nine regular-season games remaining.

There are some winnable games on the table, but an uphill climb just got steeper for an offense that has had scoring droughts this year.