Glad to have you: RSL extends longest tenured homegrown center back through 2027
Real Salt Lake and homegrown defender Justen Glad agreed to a contract extension through the 2027 season, the two sides announced Thursday.
When trouble hit Real Salt Lake in 2023, Justen Glad was there.
That included last weekend, when RSL desperately needed a win and was tied in the second half with equally struggling Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
After the Whitecaps pulled ahead in the 17th minute, Brayan Vera equalized in the 47th with a vicious long-range free kick. That set up Glad’s go-ahead goal in the 65th minute, when Andres Gomez lofted a ball from the left edge of the area and Glad “rose up like a salmon” (sorry, Dunny) to head home his fifth goal of the season.
The goal levels his season total with Chicho Arango (though the shifty Colombian striker has 20 fewer games played) and tied for the second-most on the team with Damir Kreilach. Only Jefferson Savarino’s six goals (to go along with a co-team high six assists) represent more.
Real Salt Lake and Glad agreed to a contract extension through the 2027 season, the two sides announced Thursday.
The longest tenured member of the Claret-and-Cobalt roster, Glad signed his first professional contract at 17, a junior in high school who passed on several college scholarships to become the club’s sixth homegrown player all-time.,
Glad, whose tenure with RSL will turn 10 years old next April, has gone on to become the first player in club history to reach both the 100-game mark and 200 games played, the third most-capped active homegrown player still with their original club in Major League Soccer, and his 212 MLS regular-season appearances ranks sixth all-time behind only goalkeeper Nick Rimando (369), Kyle Beckerman (350), Chris Wingert (247), Tony Beltran (245) and Javier Morales (240).
Good company, indeed.
“While it’s hard to believe I’ve been in Utah for 10 years, there is still so much more to accomplish,” Glad said. “It’s been a dream come true to rise through the ranks of RSL from the Academy to where I am now. It's been an absolute pleasure learning from all the RSL legends and making lifelong friends here with this club. But we are here to win trophies, and that’s the ultimate goal. We’ve had some deep runs the last few years, and I’m expecting another deep MLS run this year. I believe in this Club, I believe in this group; our locker room culture under Pablo and his staff is outstanding, and we are firmly focused on hosting playoff games at home before our amazing fans, not just this year, but for many many years to come.”
Glad’s five goals of the 2023 season mark a career-high, tied with Austin’s John Gallagher for the most by a defender in MLS and the most among all center backs. He’s become a veritable scoring threat, all while playing a team-high 2,553 minutes in 29 appearances that include 28 starts.
Glad’s 88.3% passing efficiency ranks second on the team among players with double-digit appearances (Marcel Silva is at 91.2% in 14 matches, all starts). In all, he’s contributed to 54 clean sheets during his tenure at RSL, including all seven for the team in 2023.
“It was always my dream,” Glad said of his pro career. “The main thing for me has just been the consistency of it. Being with this club for so long, that’s been the one thing I’ve focused on the last couple of years.”
Glad’s extension is a significant transaction as RSL inches closer to the offseason. With only four matches remaining in the regular season, fifth-place Salt Lake travels to Los Angeles to face second-place LAFC on Sunday, Oct. 1 (6 p.m. MT, MLS Season Pass) before returning home for the club’s final regular-season home match against Sporting Kansas City next Saturday, Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. MT.
Among the future transactions to potentially expect are decisions involving the club’s four potential free agents this offseason: midfielder Scott Caldwell and forward Danny Musovski, who are out of contract after the season; and Kreilach and Pablo Ruiz, who each have an option for one more year.