Five reasons why RSL re-signed Javier Morales

5. The more constraints that are imposed, the more one frees one's self.

There is a reason Javier Morales is called the Maestro. Being one of the highest fouled players in the league, Morales is still able to find that precision pass. With the keys to Real Salt Lake’s attack, Morales led the league with 74 key passes in 2015. In addition, he also led MLS attacking midfielders in pass completion (86 percent). In other words, Morales knows how to find his target:

4. He can do this . . .

Speaking about finding his target, Morales always seems to – even when at first he doesn’t:

3. A good leader takes a little less than his share of the credit.

One of the stats that is often lost in soccer is the secondary assist, but it is not lost to Javier Morales:

2. Bend it like . . . Javier Morales

There is no simpler way of scoring a goal in soccer than from a set piece. Finding the most direct route to the target is often the easiest, and that is what a set-piece specialist does. Throughout the years, Major League Soccer has be graced with the presence of David Beckham and Kaka but Morales has reigned as the king of set-pieces for RSL:

And who can forget this?

1. He’s still got it!

He is 35 years-old and the crazy thing is all the past clips are only from this year. While some players diminish with age, Javier Morales just seems to get better. His movements, his ability to read the game, his passing, his goal scoring, his assisting; his skills are still there after all these years. Javier was even the leading scorer for the Claret-and-Cobalt in 2015.

Javier is like a bottle of aged single malt Scotch — or some fine, fruity wine for those of you that don’t like the smoky goodness that is Scotch: He just keeps getting better every year. So RSL brought him back to see what he still has up his sleeves.

Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports