Sergio Córdova is coming back, but not to RSL
Sergio Córdova is coming back, but not to RSL
The 25-year-old Venezuelan international will sign with Vancouver Whitecaps FC, bringing last season's RSL top scorer back to the Western Conference in 2023.
HERRIMAN, Utah — Sergio Córdova’s time in Major League Soccer isn’t over just yet — but he won’t be returning to Real Salt Lake, either.
After finishing as RSL’s top goal scorer a year ago with nine goals (and two more in the postseason, which MLS still doesn’t count in total goals scored) while on loan from FC Augsburg in Germany’s Bundesliga, Córdova will return to the Western Conference with a new club in 2023.
RSL announced a deal Monday morning with the Whitecaps, exchanging up to $300,000 in general allocation money over the next three years, as well as Vancouver’s first-round pick in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft in exchange for the Venezuelan striker’s MLS rights.
The deal enabled the Whitecaps to sign Córdova to a three-year contract through the 2025 season, with a club option for 2026, and guarantees at least $200,000 in GAM through 2024 for RSL. If Córdova starts at least five regular-season matches in 2023 and/or 2024, the club will receive an addition $100,000 in general allocation money during the 2025 season from Vancouver.
Córdova will occupy a designated player and international roster spot in Vancouver, pending receipt of his international transfer certificate and work permit.
In a coincidental twist of fate, RSL opens the 2023 MLS regular season Saturday at Vancouver (8:30 p.m., Apple TV). Whether or not Córdova plays is to be determined, but he’s been “traveling” since Feb. 5, and Vancouver has unofficially confirmed his arrival — not him, specifically, but teasing a “significant” signing — for several weeks.
It’s been over a week since Vancouver coach Vanni Sartini admitted his club was “close” to deals with two players, the other reportedly being 26-year-old goalkeeper Yohei Takaoko from Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan’s top division.
TL;dr — this move was expected.
“Sergio is a player who impressed us during his first year in MLS with Real Salt Lake and arrives in Vancouver as he enters his prime,” Whitecaps sporting director Axel Schuster said. “He fits the profile of a striker we want to have amongst our group. He is a proven goalscorer in our league, brings size and strength, as well as tenacity in the final third.”
So where does RSL go from here? Though Córdova wasn’t immediately set to return to the club, the news leaves Salt Lake with nine strikers (after striker Jonathan Menendez’s loan was extended for another year). That includes U-22 initiative signee Andrés Gómez, a winger from Colombia; fellow winger and designated player Jefferson Savarino; and Anderson Julio, who has played as a center forward and on the wing in spurts for RSL.
Rubio Rubin has also played significant minutes at center forward during preseason, and young signings Bertin Jacquesson, Ilijah Paul and Axel Kei have also shown promise — in addition to the return to form of former LAFC forward Danny Musovski from injury.