Colorado Rapids chief gives insight as to why Sam Nicholson chose to leave Bristol Rovers

Colorado Rapids had remained in dialogue with Sam Nicholson even after his departure for Bristol Rovers two years ago, it has been revealed.

Nicholson returned to the Major League Soccer outfit last week after rejecting a new contract with the Gas, which leaves a position to be filled this summer.

The 25-year-old spent two seasons at the Memorial Stadium, playing regularly under three managers, but fell out of favour under Joey Barton towards the end of last season.

A back injury limited Nicholson’s role in the remarkable end-of-season run in which saw them promoted in the most dramatic of circumstances and now a familiar challenge awaits him.

The Scottish-born winger has returned for a second spell in Colorado, where he had two campaigns after joining from Minnesota United.

And now it has emerged of the potential structure of the two-and-half year deal has involved which saw him return to the States.

According to an article that appeared on Last Word on Sports, Nicholson is assumed to be on around $340,000 a year which roughly translates to around £277,000, giving him a weekly wage of around £5400 as part of the salary cap the MLS has.

The report said that a new deal by Rovers was offered but it would have been a pay cut on the deal he had been given by Ben Garner and co when he joined in July 2020 when the club was a mid-table League One outfit.

Nicholson returned to the UK with family reasons sighted by the Colorado, which would have been backed up by the restrictions on travel that the COVID-19 pandemic had.

Colorado’s General Manager, Padraig Smith, revealed that they had remained in contact over a possible return to Denver during his time in England.

“We were disappointed when he had to come home. We’re delighted things are better there,” Smith said to Last World on Sports.

“We talked to Sam from the very day he left here. Sam knew he was always going to be welcomed back. We had talked about him coming back in the future. He had become part of the Colorado Rapids family. He wanted to come back if the timing was right.

“We continued to watch him from the far. I’d spoken to him, some of the players had spoken to him, the coaches had spoken to him throughout his time in Europe.

“Sam is such a great character on the field and such a dynamic threat on the field from an attacking perspective. It’s going to add a critical component to our attack in the second half of the year.”