Fresh off scoring his first goal for the U.S. men's national team, Cole Bassett is getting his first taste of club soccer abroad.
The 20-year-old Colorado Rapids midfielder has signed an 18-month loan with Feyenoord in the Netherlands, joining for the remainder of this season and the entirety of the next one with an option for the club to buy (he simultaneously signed a three-year extension with the Rapids). Feyenoord, whose new CEO is former LA Galaxy general manager Dennis te Kloese, currently sits third in the Eredivisie and is the third-most successful club in Dutch history behind Ajax and PSV. Bassett, who turned down the chance to go to Benfica last August, scored the late game-winning goal for the U.S. in its 1–0 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina in a friendly last month. It was Bassett's first cap for the senior national team.
Bassett had 13 goals and 11 assists in 72 MLS games (52 starts) over the last four seasons, establishing himself as a regular for Colorado in 2021 as it rose to the top of the Western Conference. He becomes the latest U.S. international to leave MLS for opportunities abroad this winter. Ricardo Pepi left FC Dallas for Augsburg in the Bundesliga for a reported $20 million fee, while fellow forward Daryl Dike exited Orlando City for West Brom in England's second tier on a reported $9.5 million deal. James Sands is also on the move, signing with Scottish champion Rangers on an 18-month loan from NYCFC. He made his debut for the club this week. U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner, meanwhile, has reportedly been the subject of a bid from Arsenal.
At Feyenoord, which is out of all of its cup competitions and is just down to league games, Bassett will team with the likes of Iranian star Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Arsenal loanee Reiss Nelson. The club's leading scorer is Dutch veteran Bryan Linssen, whose 11 goals are second in the league only to Ajax star Sébastien Haller (12). While the Netherlands has regularly been a home to U.S. internationals, Feyenoord doesn't have a rich history of American players, though Cory Gibbs had a brief stint there in 2005-06.
The Rapids, meanwhile, have stayed busy outside of Bassett's loan. The club traded U.S. midfielder Kellyn Acosta to LAFC while re-signing defenders Keegan Rosenberry and Danny Wilson and midfielders Mark-Anthony Kaye and Jack Price. Colorado also inked Honduras international midfielder Bryan Acosta as a free agent after selecting him in the MLS Re-Entry Draft. He had most recently been with FC Dallas.
