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Real Salt Lake sign young Colombian forward Garcia

By FRANCO PANIZO

Real Salt Lake added some more attacking punch to their team on Thursday, signing young Colombian forward Olmes Garcia to a multi-year deal.

The 20-year-old Garcia joins RSL after the club paid a transfer fee to his former team, Deportes Quindio of Colombia’s top flight. There are no details regarding how much RSL dished out for Garcia, but the Western Conference powerhouse surprisingly announced that the youngster signed a five-year deal.

A Barranquilla, Colombia native, Garcia scored seven goals in 47 appearances for Deportes Quindio since turning pro in early 2011. Last year, Garcia made 26 starts and netted five times for the Colombian side. 

“Garcia is a talented player who is a significant part of our long-term plan,” RSL general manager Garth Lagerwey said in a statement released by the club. “He’s fast, has good size and is skilled, but he’ll need some time to get used to our system and to Utah. We’ll be patient with him as we help him adjust to a new country, a new team, a new language, a new culture and new tactics.”

Garcia made his preseason debut for Real Salt Lake in their 3-2 win over the New England Revolution in the FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup on Wednesday night, coming off the bench and playing 25 minutes.

Here is a video discussing Garcia’s arrival:

What do you think of Real Salt Lake signing Garcia? Expecting him to contribute this season? Think he will thrive in MLS?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. What happened to the new owner having extra resources? Expected a big DP signing from RSL this year, hopefully this kid works out.

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  2. Is it me, or does it look like the defender is sucking his thumb in that picture?

    I guess time will tell if he’s a Moreno or a Montero, or something in between. Colombians have had a lot of success in MLS.

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  3. I actually enjoy MLS. I try to catch games and even attend some during the course of a year.

    I know I don’t speak for everyone, but the following reason is why it’s hard for to become sincerely involved:

    “There are no details regarding how much RSL dished out for Garcia”

    This is sports. We, as sports fans, love to discuss/debate/argue over it. It’s our version of soap operas, gossip magazines or general reality TV.

    There is far too much ambiguity and even more obscure rules to really become overly involved or captivated. For me, at least.

    I’m not asking for big spending Europe with their sporting financial issues. I’m asking for MLS to move out of the stone age with every single story I read about MLS including the line:

    “There are no financial details available/provided about [Story X]”

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    • I think the transparency issue is contrived and a red herring. I don’t think that MLS is any different than other leagues in their disclosure of financial matters. They all decide what is in their best interest to disclose to the public. It is probably a good bit of business.

      Just look at the news coming from Roma that a Sheik has joined their board of ownership for example. I’m sure Roma fans are thinking “Oh man, we have a Sheik! How much are we going to spend on a new coach, or new players?” …but they have no idea.

      http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1350210/sheik-al-qaddumi-to-enter-roma-ownership-group?cc=5901

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      • I’m not implying it’s exclusive to MLS. I do, however, vehemently disagree with this statement: ” I don’t think that MLS is any different than other leagues in their disclosure of financial matters.”

      • Well… that’s just like… your opinion… man.

        No seriously, facts support arguments pretty well. Since you are so passionate about the subject (unlike myself), I’m sure your opinion isn’t baseless. What facts motivate your intense disagreement?

        Maybe we could look at transfers in and out and compare a few leagues and do some fun statistics. Maybe the bizarre ownership scheme of MLS lends to less disclosure. IDK, lets be quantitative.

  4. Since he is only 20, this is obviously a bet on the future. He hasn’t been a prolific scorer yet, but obviously they see some real potential. Better to take a chance on young talent still developing than spend a lot of money on someone who is 35 and only has a year or two left.

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  5. As an RSL fan I’m excited to see how he does. Obviously his name is totally new to me but Kries said he’s see ‘it’ in him I’m convinced since JK and Lagerway have been spot on the few south american transfers they’ve brought in. You know RSL brass loves him if they’ve signed him for 5 years!

    This is better from RSL and JK’s comment about additions, “maybe ones not so small…” hopefully means more attacking depth coming.

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  6. While I was hoping for a player better than Sabo, this is what we get. That is fine. Let us see what he can do. I don’t expect he will see an MLS match for a few months. What does that mean? Robbie Findley better find those scoring shoes of 2009. That means we traded Espindola for Findley, and I am not sure that was the best thing to do.

    I get the team is the star, but I hopped RSL would actually realize they need to score goals to win. Who scores goals? I tend to think an experienced player with a goal scoring resume would be better suited to score goals.

    That said, Go RSL!

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    • Espindola for findley and plata. Add to that this new kid. Olave is replaced by schuler and will j will be hard to replace but some combination of young midfielders or whichever one emerges as the best. All we can do as fans is trust that these squad editions to improve RSL.

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  7. well you should be impressed. Colombians are tearing it up around the world. I wouldnt say this is another falcao or jackson martinez but there’s really good talent down there. I just hope kries takes his time with this kid and is not quick to unload him just like the other idiot coaches in the league. I wish my galaxy would go out and buy a colombian player.

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  8. I would say, as an RSL fan, that I am not impressed, but our front office seems to know how to find under-the-radar talent from South America.

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