Real Salt Lake have re-signed club captain Kyle Beckerman, the exact terms of the deal were not disclosed by the team. RSL fans can now breathe slightly easier knowing that one of the more important pieces to the puzzle will be back for 2018. The only piece missing is goalkeeper Nick Rimando, another incredibly important player for Real Salt Lake.
New hair, same player will be the mentality for Kyle Beckerman in 2018, he offers leadership, experience, and poise for the Claret and Cobalt. His ability to hold a midfield together is remarkable, let alone his willingness to never back down from a challenge. With so much youth on the roster, Beckerman is everything RSL needs entering the 2018 season.
Kyle Beckerman with Bill Riley earlier today.
The second half of the 2017 campaign was exciting to watch, you could argue that Beckerman’s presence and leadership was the reason RSL was able to turn around a rough first half of the year. There is no doubt that the playing group gather around their captain, listen to his motivational speeches before games and follow his directions during every game. Beckerman plays the role of Centre Defensive Midfielder (CDM) better than anyone that has ever attempted it at Real Salt Lake, he sees the pitch extremely well and does a great job of facilitating the attacking players, Albert Rusnak for example relies heavily on Beckerman to get the ball back in the defensive half and start the counter-attack.
2018 will be Beckerman’s 12th season with Real Salt Lake, he has 284 appearances for the club. Beckerman started his Major League Soccer career in year 2000, since then he has become a nine-time MLS All-Star and four-time club Most Valuable Player, he also is the league leader in MLS regular-season games played (432), games started (403) and minutes played (36,020) among field players.
He will go down as one of the all-time greats.
It is a pleasure to have you back, captain!
"This is home." pic.twitter.com/L65v6PBzub
— Real Salt Lake (@RealSaltLake) January 16, 2018
Listen to Kyle Beckerman on The Bill Riley Show here.
