Ghanaian defender Lalas Abubakar has thanked the technical director of Columbus Crew Pat Onstad for playing a pivotal role in his permanent move to Colorado Rapids.

Lalas who spent the 2019 season on loan from Columbus Crew SC in order to get regular playing time fell in love with Colorado Rapids and expressed his interest in making his move permanent.

According to the defender, he feared the deal was not going to materialize due to the initial demand of Colombus Crew. But the intervention of the technical director made things easy for him.

“When I came back to Columbus, I told them I wanted to stay in Colorado,” Abubakar told MLSsoccer.com. “I’m happy here. I spoke to [technical director] Pat Onstad and I told him that.”

“I was nervous,” Abubakar admitted. “The way Pat was saying it, made me think there was already a team with a bigger offer. I was trying hard to convince him to do whatever it takes to work out things with Padraig to have me stay in Colorado.”

Eventually, the Rapids and Crew agreed on a deal worth $400,000 in General Allocation Money and a 2020 international roster slot in exchange for Abubakar.

“I’m grateful, I give credit to Pat Onstad for really helping me out,” he added.

In 22 games with him in the starting lineup, Colorado Rapid picked up 1.5 points per game compared to 0.7 PPG in the 12 games without him.