'This will be a transformational piece for our roster': Chicho Arango is exactly what RSL needs right now

The 28-year-old Colombian forward met with the media after Salt Lake's 0-0 draw with New York City FC, the team's fourth 0-0 draw in 2023 and third at home.

This isn’t a space where you will find much discussion of Real Salt Lake’s scoreless draw with New York City FC, a 0-0 final Saturday night at America First Field in Sandy, Utah.

You’ve probably read most of the breakdowns before: about how RSL created chanced, played good footie, and just couldn’t find the final piece or the missing attacker to put the ball in the back of the net.

RSL out-shot the American side of City Football Group 20-5 but only put four shots on target (and credit should be given to NYC goalkeeper Luis Barraza for standing on his head and making four saves).

So what made the club’s fourth draw of 2023 and third at home any different?

For starters, the attacking finish was in the building, sitting with his family watching the match from a suite on the fourth floor before he is eligible to join his new team at the beginning of the MLS secondary transfer window July 5.

Yes, Chicho Arango is on the ground in Salt Lake City. He’ll begin training with RSL soon, and — pending the receipt of his international transfer certificate and all those other things you read about in press releases — he’ll play for Real Salt Lake as soon as July 8 against Orlando City SC.

If only a little sooner, he joked.

“We both share the desire to win titles, and want to win a championship,” Arango said in Spanish. “The project was as simple as they presented it to me. They wanted me to be here, and my family loves it here (in Salt Lake City). I want to be here.

“The responsibility is always going to be there,” Arango added. “But I think the main focus should always be on the team; the team should always be the star. That’s what I’ve come here to do: work hard for my teammates so that we can strength the team and win a lot of teams.

“But I know I have a responsibility to work towards our goals, especially based on my signing.” 

On Saturday night, though, Arango followed general manager Elliot Fall into the basement of America First Field and spoke with the media for the first time, a 25-minute interview with the duo that sashayed between English and Spanish with the permanent transfer from CF Pachuca in Mexico on a three-year deal, with an option for 2026.

Arango is the most expensive club signing in history, brought to RSL for roughly the same price as the $6 million price tag he fetched LAFC when they sold him to the Liga MX club less than a year ago, where the 2021 MLS Newcomer of the Year and 2022 MLS Cup winner scored five goals in 11 appearances.

“It’s a really, really exciting day for our club,” Fall said. “We’ve been building up to this moment for a long time. We’ve put a lot of pieces on our roster for the last several years, all along knowing at the end of the day, we needed a striker; we needed that one more piece.

“When we realized that Chicho may be available and we may be able to get something done, we jumped right on it.” 

RSL initially inquired with LAFC about acquiring Arango before he left the league. But because of MLS’s complicated set of roster rules, the deal never fully materialized.

“It would have had knock-on effects on our roster for years to come,” Fall added. “We just couldn’t do it.”

Instead, when Pachuca seemed interested in selling Arango around the close of the MLS primary transfer window, Salt Lake brass were immediately interested. Credit to co-owners David Blitzer and Ryan Smith, as well, for sparing no expenses in bringing the striker back stateside.

• RSL Introductory Press Conference | FW Chicho Arango

Arango is the definition of the final piece, a key to the attack that the club has searched since Yura Movsisyan, Alvaro Saborio, Jason Kreis or Jeff Cunningham — name any former RSL star forward of years past, really.

“Any time that you get an opportunity to bring a player in of Chicho’s quality, it’s a massively big deal,” Fall said. “Any MLS club would be thrilled to have him.

“I believe that this will be a transformational piece for our roster … It’s a piece that will have massively positive effects for a long time.” 

But perhaps the most exciting thing mentioned by the GM after Saturday night’s game, at least for fans?

RSL isn’t done yet. After a nap, Fall will get back to work, ownership will get reinvested, and Arango will join a team that has newly refined attacking talent on the wings in Jefferson Savarino and Andrés Gómez, a pure leader in Damir Kreilach, and an up-and-coming playmaker in Diego Luna.

Arango knew Gómez when the two were at Millonarios in Colombia in 2021, but Gómez played for the U-20 group and the two never played together.

“He’s a great player who has incredible potential,” Arango said of Gómez. “I hope that we can help him here at Real Salt Lake to move even further in his career.”

And then?

“I don’t think we’re done yet,” Fall said. “We’re going to keep looking for another piece or two.”