The on-again-off-again trade of Rapids defender Cory Gibbs and goalkeeper Preston Burpo to the New England Revolution is a done deal, Colorado has announced. The Rapids will send the two players plus allocation money and a third-round draft pick in 2011 to the Revs for midfielders Jeff Larentowicz and Wells Thompson.

Larentowicz, 26, was drafted by the Revolution in the fourth round (45th overall) in the 2005 Major League Soccer supplemental draft and earned a starting role midway through the 2006 season. After registering four goals (all from outside the penalty area) in 2008 and three goals in 2007, he finished the 2009 season with one goal and two assists for New England. He started 28 games for the Revs last year. He helped Brown to two Ivy League championships. He trained with Sweden’s Malmo FF during the summer between his junior and senior years at Brown and with England’s Ipswich Town after the 2005 MLS season. Following the acquisition of Larentowicz’s rights, the Rapids agreed to terms on a new contract with him.

Thompson, 26, a wide midfielder who can use his left or right foot, was selected with the fifth overall pick in the 2007 MLS draft. He scored the winning goal in the final of the 2007 U.S. Open Cup, helping the Revs earn their first trophy. In 25 games last season (17 of them start) he registered one goal and two assists. While at Wake Forest in 2006, the Demon Deacons advanced to the NCAA College Cup for the first time in school history. He is the highest-drafted soccer player in Wake Forest history, and he is the fourth-highest-drafted student-athlete in school history, behind basketball’s Tim Duncan (No. 1 in the 1997 NBA draft) and Chris Paul (No. 4 in the 2005 NBA draft) and baseball’s Kyle Sleeth (No. 3 in the 2003 MLB draft).

Gibbs, pictured at right, joined Colorado in mid-August 2008 and was chosen as the team’s defender of the year that season. He appeared in 20 games (19 starts) in 2009. He scored his first career MLS goal, which was also an MLS goal of the week nominee, against Los Angeles in October 2008. He has 19 caps for the U.S. men’s national team. He was on the roster for Nats’ match against Guatemala in November 2008 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park but did not enter the game. Gibbs, who turned 30 this month, has played for St. Pauli, Charlton, Den Haag, Feyenoord and Dallas.

The Rapids acquired Burpo in a trade with the Earthquakes for Jovan Kirovski and Kelly Gray. Bupro spent nine years with the Seattle Sounders as one of the top goalkeepers in the USL First Division. In 2009, he started 11 games in goal and had a record of 1-4-6 with 23 saves and a 1.45 goals against average. He posted a shutout at Kansas City in September. He got his first significant time in goal for the Rapids in 2008 when Bouna Coundoul was away with the Senegalese National team, and finished the season with a 5-6-2 record and a 1.85 GAA. He’s also played for Chivas USA, the Boston Storm and New Hampshire Phantoms of the USISL, Harbor View of Jamaica’s first division and New Hampshire College (now Southern University of New Hampshire).

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