Real Salt Lake has already made one major move in the current transfer window, trading Alvaro Saborio to D.C. United in exchange for Luis Silva. Now, it appears Technical Director Craig Waibel has more up his sleeve. In his weekly appearance on The Bill & OC Show on ESPN 700 in Salt Lake City, Waibel said the club is in “very advanced conversations” to acquire an international player, perhaps within the next two weeks.
“I’ll be taking my time and being thorough, but I do feel pretty confident saying that in the next two weeks we’ll be adding at least one piece,” Waibel said. “I’ve already had my heart broken once, but we’ve got a great list of talent and players and I’m communicating consistently with a couple of them. We’re well down the path on one or two players right now. It looks very positive to add a player in the next couple of weeks and hopefully I can be sharing that message with you guys pretty soon.”
RSL has a good history in the summer transfer window. In trades, the club has landed the likes of Kyle Beckerman, Robbie Findley, Will Johnson, Chris Wingert, Yura Movsisyan and Clint Mathis. And through transfer, the club has added players like Robbie Russell, Javier Morales, Fabian Espindola and, last year, Sebastian Jaime.
In the case of the transfers, it can be a difficult proposition, Waibel explained.
“Players have to make tough decisions. It’s not just me approaching players and them having one option. These are choices that have to work out on both sides,” he said. “When it comes down to whether you end up landing a player or not, it’s not one-sided. There are big choices that have be made on our side with the club and life choices that have to be made for a player. And sometimes right at the end of the race, you have a person that makes a different decision. I would tell you that in the case of the last couple weeks we’ve run into that a couple of times. It’s a tough balance, but we’re getting close on one or two guys.”
The secondary transfer window runs until August 6 and the roster freeze comes on September 1. To hear the full interview, click here.
