” Everything ends badly, otherwise it wouldn’t end.”-Brian Flanagan, Cocktail
The 5 year and often tumultuous relationship between Real Salt Lake and their all time leading scorer, Alvaro Saborio, ended Thursday morning with Saborio being traded to DC United for MF Luis Silva.
Saborio joined RSL the year after the club won it’s only piece of Soccer Hardware in 2009. In his 5 and a half seasons in Salt Lake City Sabo scored goals! He leaves for the Nation’s Capital as the clubs all time leading scorer with 63 regular season goals and 4 goals in playoff competition, plus 13 assists. It’s a mark that he’ll hold for sometime.
For all the success that Saborio had with RSL, he was often moody and tough to deal with for the staff and teammates. This season those emotions on and off the field came to a head and RSL made the decision to move him, before he returned from Gold Cup duty with Costa Rica. At the end of the day, it was time and the right move for both parties.
The trade is two pronged for RSL:
1. Moving Saborio frees up a great deal of cap room.
2. It allows RSL to bring in a good young and inexpensive Mid Fielder in Luis Silva from DC United.
(image courtesy of iworldcup.org)
So who is Luis Silva? Well here’s the bio if you want a look…He’s a 26 year old Southern California Native, who was drafted by Toronto FC in 2012 out of UC-Santa Barbara. Silva spent 44 matches in Canada, scored 5 times and tallying 7 assists, before being dealt to DC United. Last season, Silva was one of the keys to DC’s rise back to the top of the East. He scored 11 goals and assisted on 4 others. He has battled the injury bug this year, playing and starting in just 4 matches for United. He’ll join a crowded and talented Midfield in Salt Lake City. It’s too soon to tell how or when Silva will make a mark for RSL. His first order of business is health. He said Thursday that he’s 85 to 90% back to health. If you’d like to see him work some magic here’s a set piece clip.
Silva is expected arrive in Salt Lake City late Thursday or Early Friday. Saborio will finish his Gold Cup run with Costa Rica, up next Mexico Sunday, then join DC United for the stretch run of the season.
While Saborio never help Real Salt Lake bring any hardware to the trophy cabinet at Rio Tinto Stadium. He was certainly instrumental in the team’s success over the last 5 seasons. He’ll join another former RSL striker, Fabian Espindola, in DC, giving Ben Olsen the #1 and #4 goal scorers in Real Salt Lake history.
Real Salt Lake and Technical Director Craig Waibel continue to look at both trade and international options as the close of the transfer window approaches on August 6th. They now have both cap room and a DP slot available if the right player is found.
