Forward Yura Movsisyan is returning to Real Salt Lake.
The Armenian international played with the MLS outfit from 2007-09, helping the team to the 2009 MLS Cup before moving to European soccer. He comes back to RSL on a one-year loan from Spartak Moscow, and though terms of the deal were not announced, he will fill a designated player slot.
“For me, it’s been a long time I’ve been wanting to come back," Movsisyan said in a news release. "Obviously Salt Lake was my first choice because it was such a great place for me and my family. I felt at home in Utah. Leaving with a championship – I want to come back and do that again.
"I want to win more championships with Salt Lake – with the club that I was part of the evolution. I was part of the team that went basically from the bottom to being champions. This is what I want to do again and what I’m excited about. For me, it’s an amazing thing to come back.”
Movsisyan grew up in Southern California after his family was forced to flee from Azerbaijan in the early 90s. He played his high school soccer in Pasadena, going on to play one year at Pasadena City College before signing a Generation Adidas deal and being selected early in the 2006 draft.
The 28-year-old scored eight goals in his last season with RSL and has continued to score in his subsequent stops at Randers in Denmark and Krasnodar and Spartak of the Russian Premier League. His 16 goals in the 2013-14 Russian Premier League season put him fourth in the Golden Boot standings.
"He’s always been a goal scorer and statistically speaking, his numbers are undeniably productive no matter where he’s played," Real Salt Lake general manager Craig Waibel said. "He’s at an age right now and at a point of his life right now, he had a priority with his wife that they wanted to move back to the States.
"Everything just added up to make sense for him to come. We have an undeniable interest to bring in good soccer players and goal scorers and Yura is one of those. We believe he’s a double-digit goal scorer and we’re really excited to get him back out on the field and start producing.”
In addition to the upcoming MLS season, Real Salt Lake is in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals. The first leg against Tigres on Feb. 24 will mark the team's first match of 2016.
