Real Salt Lake opens preseason in the midst of an offseason build
The club added 20-year-old former U.S. youth international center back Kobi Henry on loan from French side Stade de Reims on Monday, the day RSL opened preseason training camp in Utah.
It’s always better play your best at the end of a season than the beginning, but Real Salt Lake is hardly hitting the ground running as it opens preseason Monday at the Zions Bank Training Center in Herriman.
Maybe that isn’t a shock, based on where the club ended 2024.
Once with arms-length of the Supporters’ Shield with a legitimate Golden Boot candidate in Chicho Arango, RSL sputtered down the stretch of the regular season, finishing third in the Wester Conference before bowing out in the first round to Minnesota United with two penalty kick-spawned defeats in the home-and-home series.
Fast forward several months, and the club is continuing to shift and rebuild since selling winger Andres Gomez to Rennais for a club-record $11 million fee. RSL returned 6-foot-5 midfielder Matt “Tree” Crooks to his native England with Hull City, sold Arango to San Jose for $1.4 million in general allocation money that will come in over the next two seasons and an international spot, finished a trade with FC Dallas for Anderson Julio to add capital, and is closing in on a deal to launch U.S. youth international goalkeeper Gavin Beavers to Europe, as well.
As the club opens preseason training camp, they still have plans to add a new striker, winger, center back and goalkeeper within the coming weeks, according to a team source.
Certainly, replacing Arango with a Designated Player goal-scorer will be a priority, as it will allow Salt Lake to maintain its two-DP, four-U22 Initiative setup that also provides an extra $2 million in GAM from the league each year.
And the first signing dropped Monday, when Real Salt Lake announced the addition of former U.S. youth international center back Kobi Henry on loan from French side Reims for the 2025 MLS season.
The native of Lakeland, Florida, signed his first professional contract with Orange County SC at just 16 after playing with the Orlando City and Inter Miami academy groups, and made seven appearances with various U.S. youth teams at the U17, U19 and U20 levels.
Henry, 20 then signed a five-year contract with Reims in 2022 for what was then a USL Championship-record transfer fee of $700,000, according to ESPN. The 6-foot-2 center back has made 27 appearances for Reims’ reserve side and on loan nto Villefranche in the Championnat National before returning stateside to play for manager Pablo Mastroeni.
RSL will try to propel Henry’s career forward with Reims in much the same way it launch Gomez to a path overseas, doubling his transfer value after scoring 15 goals with 15 assists in his 18-month stay in Utah.
There’s also hope of doing the same thing with winger Dominik Marczuk, the 21-year-old Polish international who arrived in Salt Lake City last year. There’s also hope that Diogo Gonçalves can take a similar step forward as Arango after coming to RSL midway through 2024, and the club added forward Elias Manoel from the New York Red Bulls as a key depth piece, as well.
All of this is building on the emergence of reigning MLS Young Player of the Year Diego Luna, and comes amid the return of midfielder Pablo Ruiz from a second knee injury in as many years. The emergence of Emeka Eneli, Braian Ojeda and Alex Katranis with Justen Glad to form the spine of the team will also help.
