Real Salt Lake reportedly sending Fidel Barajas to Chivas for club-record transfer fee
RSL will also keep a a percentage of any sell-on purchase, according to The Athletic.
Real Salt Lake’s first big move of the summer is reportedly in the making, and it’s an outgoing delivery.
The club is finalizing a deal to send U.S./Mexico dual-international Fidel Barajas to Chivas de Guadalajara, according to The Athletic’s Tom Bogert and Jeff Reuter. The deal is worth upwards of $4 million, which would be a new RSL club record.
Currently tied for first in the Western Conference, Real Salt Lake would then plan to reinvest that transfer fee for the sell into the club’s current run.
Barajas, 18, signed with RSL as a highly rated talent, a year after winning USL Championship Young Player of the Year and scoring five goals with 11 assists in 32 appearances with the Charleston Battery.
The Battery will also get a share of the Chivas deal as part of their own sell-on clause, according to The Athletic, which confirmed several reports that the initial deal between Charleston and Salt Lake was in the realm of $250,000. At the time, the club also sent $50,000 in general allocation money to Toronto FC to swap spots in Major League Soccer’s waiver order to sign Barajas.
Barajas, who has represented both the United States and Mexico at the youth international level, has two assists in 17 appearances (including five starts) for Real Salt Lake in 2024, including MLS Team of the Matchday honors for Matchday 6 back in March when he assisted on both goals during a 2-1 comeback win over the Vancouver Whitecaps.
He’s also started just one of his last nine appearances in MLS play, with a start in MLS NEXT Pro for Real Monarchs during a 4-0 win over Austin FC II (where Barajas scored a goal before being subbed off at halftime).