1 week Ago
William Agada is ready to play for his new fans. “ For me, I’m super excited when I heard about this move,” the 25-year-old forward said after being traded from Sporting Kansas City to Real Salt Lake this week. Agada’s new fans, however, would’ve been more excited if they’d heard about another move or two as the April transfer window closed.
Salt Lake added Agada and signed free agent forward Johnny Russell on Friday. But the club’s biggest transfer deadline plans failed to materialize. Slovakian striker Robert Boženík, despite having a verbal agreement with his club in Portugal.
“It’s unfortunate it didn’t work out,” RSL Sporting Director Kurt Schmid said. “Not through any fault of his own or, if I could say, our fault.” Salt Lake had agreed to terms with Boženík’s team, Boavista, weeks before the deadline, Schmid said.
The 25-year-old Boženík traveled to Utah to complete the deal this week. Then things fell apart. “It was his club coming in after essentially agreeing to a deal, trying to change the terms at the last minute,” Schmid said.
“They took a gamble that didn’t pay off for them.” Despite needing to upgrade its attacking talent, Schmid said RSL did not feel comfortable making further concessions to acquire Boženík. “It was clear that they weren’t behaving in good faith,” he said.
“Negotiating is one thing when both parties are trying to get the deal done ...
but I think when there’s a lack of trust or the trust is broken, it becomes difficult ot make concessions to adapt or adjust.” The RSL executive said it’s “possible” the team could look for a way to add Boženík in the future. “The door’s not shut on him personally,” Schmid said.
“I wouldn’t say it’s open for the club.” In the meantime, the situation leaves Salt Lake lacking an elite goal scorer and the club’s fans frustrated. (Charlie Riedel | AP) Sporting Kansas City forwards William Agada (23) and Johnny Russell (7) celebrate Agama's goal during the second half of an MLS soccer match against the Portland Timbers Sunday, Aug.
21, 2022, in Kansas City, Kan. Both Agada and Russell have joined Real Salt Lake this week. Agada scored 10 goals a season ago, but was scoreless for Kansas City in 10 appearances this year.
Russell scored 60 goals during his time with Kansas City. But the 35-year-old Scottish star only scored four times last season. Will that be enough to get RSL’s attack on track? “I think what’s missing in the final third is a lot of things.
It’s decision-making. It can be quality. It’s even volume.
We get into good setup positions a lot, but we’re not converting those into actual shots.” But after selling the team’s top two attacking threats from a season ago for more than $12 million combined, some RSL fans believe a willingness to reinvest that money and spend on top-tier talent is also lacking. “The level of investment, while it might frustrate some fans, I think, is appropriate to find success in this league.
I think the ambition is there,” Schmid said. The team’s sporting director said decisions made on player acquisitions are a “collaborative process” with the club’s owners. “It becomes a recommendation from the soccer department and we collaborate with ownership in terms of what we have .
.. not just in this window but over this year and over multiple years and how we amortize the transfer fees and expenses,” he said.
Schmid said his relationship with the Miller family, who took over as majority owners of the club this month, is “still relatively new.” But the executive said he believes the Millers will do what is necessary to help the club win. “They’re a family that’s such a big part of this community.
They see the club as a representation of that. What does that mean? It means they want that representation to be successful,” Schmid said. “How that translates into dollars and cents at the end of the day, that’s what we collaborate on.
” Schmid said RSL is already looking at its options for the July transfer window. “We’re always looking one and two windows ahead,” he said. “Depending on how we do between now and then .
.. that could affect what we think we need to strengthen the team.
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