Morgan Whittaker Joins Colorado Rapids from Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough’s top scorer has gone. Morgan Whittaker has left the Riverside for a new life in MLS, signing a three-year deal with Colorado Rapids.

The 25-year-old forward joins the Denver club for an undisclosed fee and will occupy one of the Rapids’ prized Designated Player slots. Colorado, coached by Englishman Matt Wells and sitting seventh in the Western Conference, also hold an option to extend his contract by a further year.

For Boro, it draws a sharp line under a short but turbulent spell.

Signed from Plymouth Argyle for £5m in January 2025, Whittaker arrived on Teesside as a statement buy. Middlesbrough had fought off strong competition midway through the 2024-25 campaign to land him, banking on his goals to push Michael Carrick’s side over the line in the promotion race.

The goals didn’t come. Not at first.

Whittaker failed to score in any of his first 16 appearances as Boro’s season stuttered and ultimately slipped out of play-off contention on the final day. The drought grew heavier with every game. At Preston North End it turned sour, the forward actually cheered off when he was substituted, a stark snapshot of how quickly a marquee signing can become a target.

That barren run stretched to 25 matches. Then it snapped.

He finally “broke his duck” in a win over Ipswich Town, and something shifted. Confidence returned, the movement sharpened, and the same player who had looked weighed down by expectation suddenly caught fire. Whittaker rattled in eight goals in 12 games, including a streak of six consecutive matches on the scoresheet, and finished the campaign as Middlesbrough’s leading scorer with 14 goals in 66 appearances overall.

The irony was painful for Boro. Just as their No 9 rediscovered his touch, their Premier League dream died in the play-offs.

This season, Carrick had backed him again. Whittaker started all three Championship fixtures up to the win over West Bromwich Albion on 29 August and featured in five games in total before the move to the United States was sealed.

Behind the scenes, though, the squad was already evolving. Middlesbrough have brought in 12 new players over the summer, among them Brighton winger Amario Cozier-Duberry on loan, snapped up on deadline day. With fresh attacking options arriving and a Designated Player offer on the table from MLS, the moment for a clean break presented itself.

Whittaker now trades the Riverside for the altitude of Colorado and the grind of the Championship for the travel and spectacle of MLS. For the Rapids, it is a calculated bet on a forward who has already shown he can ride out a storm and emerge as a match-winner.

For Middlesbrough, it leaves a familiar question hanging over the season ahead: who scores the goals now?