Here's where Real Salt Lake's roster stands after closing summer transfer window, with Gomez, Oviedo departures
Here's where Real Salt Lake's roster stands after closing summer transfer window, with Gomez, Oviedo departures
The club finished off a historic MLS summer transfer window Wednesday, including waiving versatile defender Bryan Oviedo and sending Andrés Gómez to French Ligue 1 side Stade Rennais.
Real Salt Lake just finished off one of the busiest transfer windows in club history Wednesday upon the close of the MLS summer window.
The club added a second Designated Player to pair with Chicho Arango in Portuguese No. 10 Diogo Gonçalves and a fourth U-22 initiative player in 20-year-old Polish winger Dominik Marczuk to add to a pool that also includes Braian Ojeda, Nelson Palacio and Diego Luna under the designation.
That makes RSL one of 10 teams in MLS built on the U-22 initiative player model for roster decisions, meaning they will receive $1 million in general allocation money for building with two DPs (and four U-22 initiative players).
The first departure was announced Thursday, when Salt Lake placed defender Bryan Oviedo on the waiver wire.
Oviedo, 34, signed with RSL as a free agent in August 2022 after spending three seasons with FC Copenhagen in Denmark. The 5-foot-8 versatile outside back played a total in 56 matches over three seasons for Real Salt Lake, including starting 10 of the final 11 games of a loaded 2023 season.
“We are very thankful to Bryan and his family for their contributions to Real Salt Lake on and off the field over the last three seasons, and we wish him all the best in the next chapter of his career,” RSL chief soccer officer Kurt Schmid said. “This was the best decision for both parties at this time.”
Then Real Salt Lake announced the departure of young attacking talent Andrés Gómez to French Ligue 1 club Stade Rennais on Saturday morning, sending the 21-year-old Colombian winger to Europe on a reported club-record transfer fee.
“To all the Real Salt Lake fans, I want to send you a special message – thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you gave me during the last year-and-a-half here in Utah,” said Gómez in a club release. “God bless you all, I will always have you in my heart.”
Gómez appeared in 65 games for RSL across multiple competitions, scoring 15 goals with 15 assists in a year and a half. He enjoyed a breakout 2024 season while playing exclusively on the right wing, banging in 13 goals with nine assists that attracted him attention from plenty of clubs overseas.
“We wish nothing but the best to Andrés, he’s grown a lot with us on and off the field during his 18 months here,” said RSL Chief Soccer Officer Kurt Schmid, following RSL’s second outbound sale of the recently-closed summer window, during which the Utah side also brought in five players. “It is difficult to let young prospects go, but the global market offers clubs and individuals numerous opportunities for change and growth. Andrés represented both himself and RSL as an emerging young professional each and every day here, and we believe we have provided him a foundation as he adapts to both the European game and his Colombian national team career.”
Under head coach Pablo Mastroeni, Salt Lake currently sit third in the Western Conference with 44 points on a 12-5-8 overall record.
Here’s where RSL’s roster stands before resuming the final stretch of MLS play Aug. 24 against the San Jose Earthquakes:
GK: Zac MacMath, Gavin Beavers, Tomas Gomez, Fernando Delgado (Monarchs)
DF: Andrew Brody, Brayan Vera, Justen Glad, Bode Hidalgo, Erik Holt, Philip Quinton, Marcelo Silva (Inj.), Kevin Bonilla (SEI), Javain Brown, Zack Farnsworth (Monarchs), Tommy Silva (Monarchs)
MF: Braian Ojeda (U22), Pablo Ruiz (SEI), Diego Luna (U22), Nelson Palacio (U22), Emeka Eneli, Matt Crooks, Diogo Gonçalves (DP), Bertin Jacquesson, Lachlan Brook, Noel Caliskan (Monarchs), Zavier Gozo (Monarchs), Luca Moisa (Monarchs)
FW: Chicho Arango, Maikel Chang, Anderson Julio, Matthew Bell (Monarchs), Anderson Julio, Benji Michel, Dominik Marczuk (U22), Ilijah Paul (Loan)
While I am excited about the added new players that @RealSaltLake has added I was shocked that they would release Bryan Oviedo on Waivers. In my OPINION RSL should release These three players: Brody, Hildalgo, & Macmath. Brody makes too many passing mistakes and is only a decent defender. Hildalgo is not playing in his best position. Than there is Macmath. He has played his entire career (except at RSL) as a backup Goalkeeper. His mental mistakes/errors have caused us huge losses and difficult situations. Why Oviedo?