Morgan Whittaker Joins Colorado Rapids as Designated Player

Morgan Whittaker’s turbulent Middlesbrough chapter is over. His next act unfolds at altitude in Denver.

The 25-year-old forward has left Boro to join MLS side Colorado Rapids on a three-year deal, with the American club holding an option for a further year. The fee is undisclosed, but the move is significant enough for Whittaker to take up one of the Rapids’ coveted Designated Player slots, a clear sign of the role they expect him to play in a side currently sitting seventh in the Western Conference under English head coach Matt Wells.

It draws a line under a brief yet eventful spell at the Riverside.

From Goal Drought to Leading Marksman

Whittaker arrived on Teesside in January 2025 for £5m from Plymouth Argyle, with Middlesbrough beating off competition to land a player viewed as a key piece in their promotion push. The early returns were grim.

He failed to score in any of his first 16 appearances as Michael Carrick’s team slipped out of play-off contention on the final day of the season. The barren run stretched to 25 matches in all, a sequence that weighed heavily. At Preston North End, he was even cheered off by sections of the home crowd when substituted, a brutal snapshot of a striker visibly wrestling with his form.

Then the switch flipped.

Whittaker finally broke his duck in a win over Ipswich Town and suddenly looked like the forward Middlesbrough thought they had signed. He rattled in eight goals in 12 games, including a streak of scoring in six consecutive matches. By the end of the campaign, he had climbed from frustration to the top of the club’s scoring charts, even as Boro’s hopes of Premier League football were ultimately crushed in the play-offs.

Across his time at the Riverside, Whittaker scored 14 goals in 66 appearances. It was an output shaped by extremes: a long, confidence-sapping drought followed by a ruthless purple patch that briefly made him the focal point of Carrick’s attack.

A Summer of Change on Teesside

The timing of his departure underlines just how much has shifted at Middlesbrough in a short span. This summer has brought a major rebuild: 12 new players have arrived, including Brighton winger Amario Cozier-Duberry on loan, snapped up on deadline day to add pace and invention in the wide areas.

Whittaker, meanwhile, had featured five times this season, starting all three Championship fixtures up to the win over West Bromwich Albion on 29 August. Even so, the club has chosen to cash in and reshape the forward line around fresh faces.

For Boro, it is a clean break. For Whittaker, it is a gamble and an opportunity rolled into one.

A Fresh Stage in MLS

Colorado’s move is a statement. Designated Player slots are reserved for those expected to tilt games, not just fill squads. The Rapids are in the thick of the Western Conference battle and have turned to a forward who has lived both sides of the striker’s life: the barren spells and the hot streaks.

In Denver, Whittaker will not carry the baggage of that 25-game drought or the memory of being jeered off at Preston. He arrives as a former top scorer from one of England’s most demanding divisions, stepping into a league that increasingly values European attacking talent in their prime years.

The question now is simple and sharp: will MLS see the hesitant figure who first pulled on a Boro shirt, or the relentless finisher who briefly lit up the Championship run-in?