It's good to be Diego Luna — with or without international recognition
The 20-year-old RSL rising star who wears "Bluey" sweatshirts to work and dances like "Bandit" for his young son is having a breakout season in MLS — no matter what the Olympic team thinks.
Diego Luna has a lot going for him right now, and the one-goal-and-three-assist performance he put in during Real Salt Lake’s 5-2 win over Atlanta United is only part of the story.
For much more of it, just look at the sweater he wore to Saturday’s match.
There was Luna, the 20-year-old father of one with a fresh U22 initiative contract through 2026 that includes options for 2027 and 2028 and could keep him at the club long-term, arriving with his official “pre-match fit” that included a baby blue shirt from the worldwide TV phenomenon “Bluey” that he picked up at Boxlunch.
“I wear it because of my son; it’s all he watches,” Luna said. “It’s for him, and then the celebration after, it’s the dad Bandit that does that dance.”
The evening after Luna reportedly received potentially disappointing news — that he was being left off the U.S. men’s Olympic roster for the Paris 2024 Summer Games — the third-year MLS wonder put in arguably the best match of his pro career.
It’s been two years since Luna arrived in Salt Lake City from El Paso, the only other professional world he knew when he signed with El Paso Locomotive FC in USL Championship before breaking a then-record transfer fee to move to Salt Lake in 2022.
Back then, Luna was a teenager, one with a bright future but an undecided present, who admitted he didn’t always feel like he fit into his new environment. Nerves, anxiety or simply the shock value of settling into a new place at a young age, he discussed on an episode of “Breakaway” on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV how he took a job at a local Dutch Bros. to try to pull himself out of his shell, to teach him to interact with people, and to learn to simply smile and try to brighten somebody’s day with a vanilla latte or a shot of espresso.
Back in year 1 in MLS, he finished with three starts and 310 minutes across 13 appearances as he joined RSL midway through the 2022 season. But he’s steadily gotten better, settling into Pablo Mastroeni’s system, his role with Salt Lake, and conducting the hype train of an offense that is undeniably fun.
He’s also been outspoken about the mental health, about how therapy has helped him not only off the pitch but in producing a career-best year, one with 12 goals that ranks third in the league and five goals that is fourth on the team (and the most for a non-forward).
So when U.S. Soccer informed Luna that he had not been selected to the first-choice roster for the Olympics — that the organization “poked the bear,” as Mastroeni called it — the mature-beyond-his-years veteran was in the right space to turn the heartbreak into hype.
“Decisions are made in soccer with different teams, different coaches. There’s nothing you can do about it,” Luna said. “Other than that, I’m grateful to be here, to be able to stay here with RSL in this great run of form, and to be able to do stuff like this. I’m happy, I’m focused, I’m here with RSL, and I’m going to continue to work hard.”
If the national team doesn’t want him, his club clearly does. So Luna will continue to go about his business, with a furrowed brow when it’s time to work and a smile — as well as a Bandit dance, dedicated to his young son — when it’s time to celebrate.
His 17 goal contributions in 1,441 minutes (including 17 starts) is by far the most of his three years in MLS in a season that has recently passed the halfway mark for a team that leads the West (before LAFC’s road trip Sunday night to Houston). It’s already ahead of the nine goals and five assists he had in 2021 with Charleston, a 2,018-minute campaign that earned him All-League recognition and USL Championship Young Player of the Year honors.
And he’s not done yet.
“I think it’s just about finding my stride,” Luna said. “I think I’ve never found what works for me, and allowed me to just be free. It’s that, and tapping into the mental side, staying positive, making things there are no things stressing you out outside of soccer. I think that’s definitely helped me, and it’s stuff that I’m working on.”
