Well, it’s been quite a few days for Real Salt Lake from a transfer perspective, hasn’t it? There hasn’t been anything official announced since the Diogo Goncalves departure, but there’s been a lot that we should touch on that’s quite interesting.
Pablo Ruiz linked with Colo-Colo
Longtime RSL midfielder Pablo Ruiz has been linked with Colo-Colo, which is an interesting notion — the rumor’s doing the rounds quite quickly, which probably just speaks to how quickly rumor mills move than anything else. I don’t know that it’s particularly likely, as the initial report indicates there’s a big financial hurdle, but it does answer some questions about how RSL figures out this midfield, and how Pablo Ruiz engages with it. As we talk about the remaining rumors today, just keep Ruiz’s midfield presence in mind.
RSL linked with Uruguayan left back Juan Manuel Sanabria
I don’t know much about Juan Manuel Sanabria, but he’s a left back, and he seems to send in a ton of crosses. He produced a scoring contribution basically every three games in 2025, which is an extremely good return. He’s maintained similar numbers for the last four years. He’s nearly 26 years old, so he’s both been doing this for more than just the peak of his playing career, and he’s been doing it in a competitive league at a similar level to MLS. I am legitimately pleased with the prospect of this signing, presuming he’s being targeted for a left wing back role.
Of course, this all makes me reflect on what happens with Alex Katranis — adding a starting-caliber left wing back would seem to spell the end of Katranis’ time with RSL. We’ll see how this one shakes out.
RSL linked with Guinean forward Morgan Guilavogui
This one I’m a little more skeptical about — not the veracity, which seems pretty straightforward; it’s been posted about by Tom Bogert, after all. We talked about this one very briefly recently, but I’d like to get a little into it (not very into it, though.) While in Ligue 2, he had two seasons with a very good scoring record. In 2021/22, he scored 11 goals in 31 matches, and in 2022/23, he scored 15 in 32. Both of these are good outlays for a forward, and if those numbers can be sustained, they could translate well to MLS. In the remaining 2.5 league seasons, he’s scored nine goals. Now, he did transfer from Paris FC to RC Lens, and he did go on loan to St. Pauli in the Bundesliga, but it still leaves one with more questions than answers.
Now, six goals in the Bundesliga with St. Pauli isn’t nothing — MLS is certainly less competitive than each of the top five leagues in the world. Perhaps he’ll rediscover the goalscoring form that earned him a move to the top division.
But here’s the weird thing, and it’s the thing that just leaves me with a final dangling question mark: After going on loan to St. Pauli, the German side exercised the purchase option on his loan deal. That’s fine and good. Normal stuff. What’s less normal here is that RC Lens immediately turned out and exercised a buy-back option that was a clause in the transfer to St. Pauli. Lens then proceeded to largely use him as a substitute, and now they’re ready to move on from him, apparently. That’s truly weird, and hopefully it’s just a sign of dysfunction at a club.
Goncalves' departure rounds out poor 2025 RSL transfers
Wasatch Soccer Sentinel
