SANDY, Utah (Thursday, February, 2016) – Real Salt Lake General Manager Craig Waibel announced on Thursday that the club’s USL affiliate, Real Monarchs SLC, will loan GK Christian Herrera to Pachuca in Mexico’s Liga MX for the 2016 Clausura and Apertura seasons with the option for Pachuca to purchase Herrera’s rights after the season. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“This opportunity came up and after discussing it with Christian and the Monarchs coaching staff we agreed that it would be a good fit for the player and the club,” Waibel said. “Christian will have the chance now to get some playing time that frankly wouldn’t come because of the depth we have at the goalkeeper position and Pachuca is a great club at developing young talent, so it’s a great opportunity for him.”
Herrera, 18, signed with Real Monarchs after competing for three seasons with the Real Salt Lake-Arizona Academy. There, he went to three finals, appearing twice in the USSDA National Championship and once in the Generation adidas Cup. That success at the Academy level earned recognition on the international level as well. He played at the U-18 level with both the U.S. and Mexican National Teams and last month spent two weeks training with Mexico’s U-20 National Team.
“For the whole club it’s good. He’s had a lot of good goalkeeping coaches along the way and everybody’s always liked him,” Monarchs Head Coach Freddy Juarez said. “He has a high ceiling, but right now the best thing for him is to get games. The training is good here, but he has so much potential that he has to continue to develop that potential by playing games. He’s going to continue to grow and get good training with Pachuca and we’re going to keep watching him and hopefully he continues to develop and in the future he can be a first-team player for Real Salt Lake.”
Herrera is the second player from RSL’s Academy to go on loan to Mexico this season after Sebastian Saucedo went on loan to Veracruz last month.
Pachuca has won the Mexican top flight five times, most recently in 2007’s Clausura season, also winning CONCACAF Champions Cup three times and CONCACAF Champions League once in 2009-2010.
The Monarchs have been in training camp since January 11 and will move camp to Costa Rica starting Friday for two weeks. That trip will include three matches as the club gets ready for its second season in the USL, opening on March 26 at Rio Tinto Stadium against St. Louis FC.
