Chris Garcia, three years in, struggles to find RSL footing

Has the 19-year-old homegrown player seen his last season with Real Salt Lake?

Lucas Muller | Wasatch Soccer Sentinel

by Ian KnightonNov 10, 2022

What’s next for Chris Garcia?

Chris Garcia’s option was declined by Real Salt Lake at the end of the 2022 season after spending the latter part of the season loaned to USL Championship side El Paso Locomotive.

Chris Garcia’s impact in 2022

Signed to a homegrown contract in 2020 (at 17 years old), he never really seemed to factor in any of the first team’s plans. In the case that he did see the pitch for the first team, it seemed mostly as a time-wasting sub to go out and pack up a midfield for garbage time.

Throughout Chris’s time with RSL, he’s been on a couple of loan deals throughout the U.S. and abroad, so he’s definitely broadened his horizons a bit, but apparently not enough to keep him on the roster going into 2023. I believe this will help his odds of being picked up by another club somewhere in the U.S., even if it is just a USL side.

Ultimately, I think Garcia fell victim to the teams strategy of signing a lot of wing players and trying to find other ways to use them. When you have players with Justin Meram, Maikel Chang, Jefferson Savarino, and (seemingly) Andrew Brody fighting for those spots, it’s really hard for an unproven 19 year old to really get a bite at the apple. Especially going in to 2023, where we would hope to see Damir Kreilach come back and start fighting for the midfield spots currently being occupied by some of the aforementioned wing players.