Craig Waibel has a distinct way of knowing when he is in the transfer window without looking at the calendar.
“I’m not sleeping, once again,” the Real Salt Lake General Manager said on ESPN 700’s On Frame on Monday.
Major League Soccer is in its summer transfer window, when in previous years the club has acquired the likes of Javier Morales and Fabian Espindola in 2007 and Juan Manuel Martinez in 2015, among numerous others. With all three Designated Player slots occupied, any player signing might not be of that caliber, but that doesn’t mean Waibel isn’t actively pursuing pieces to help improve RSL’s chances of returning to the MLS Cup playoffs after a one-year absence in 2015.
However, his activity is pointed and with the goal of making the team better, so he won’t make a move just for activity’s sake.
“It’s an interesting term, active. I’m always active. There’s always conversations being had and phone calls being made. A lot of that is stacking up ‘Is there a good option to execute right now, given where we are the salary cap, where we are with allocation money and where we are with the roster?’ I continue to say we won’t make changes just to make changes,” Waibel said. “It will be to challenge the status quo and only if we improve will we make changes. I don’t feel the need to make changes just to prove I’m making phone calls.”
RSL has already sent forward Devon Sandoval out on loan to Rayo OKC in the North American Soccer League and with the recent surgery for forward Emery Welshman, there are roster slots available in the attack that are among the holes needed to fill. Add to that the temporary hole left by Sunday Stephen’s absence to injury and the midfield could potentially use reinforcements. And there is always the much talked about efforts to add center back depth in preseason that didn’t come to fruition.
While those aspects are taken into account, as is the development of players that have stepped into roles that weren’t necessarily expected of them prior to the season.
“We need to challenge the status quo, but we also can’t be blind to the players that are evolving right in front of us. We have a few of them evolving a little bit quicker than we anticipated. It 100% makes us go back and evaluate,” Waibel said. “We have altered our approach from January a little bit. Not too much. I do have a long-term vision and that’s what I’m in control of. We constantly evaluate and re-evaluate and question ourselves. We have a couple guys that have stepped up and done a good job for us and certainly have changed what we perceive to be necessary movement and have drawn into question what the next move is that we need to do.”
The summer transfer window runs from July 4-August 3.
To hear the full interview, click listen below.
