Waibel: "We need to go get that cerebral center back"

By most measures, Real Salt Lake is short a center back — not in terms of raw numbers, but rather when we consider the depth of the team.

That's a problem that might get a solution soon, with Craig Waibel having talked last week several times about working on two signings. One of those was Stephen "Sunny" Sunday, the midfielder that will probably fill a box-to-box role.

The other one — which he has said is a center back — is still a mystery. But what's less of a mystery is what exactly Waibel is looking for.

"In general, the balance I want is a really strong, physical presence, and obviously a more cerebral center back — leadership qualities, vocal, positionally wise — to balance the athleticism and the cerebral, organizational piece," Waibel, RSL's general manager, said in an interview on Thursday. "We're focused on the organizational piece. We feel like with Olave, with Maund, with Kavita, we really have that strong physical presence, with Justen Glad, we're developing more of that cerebral center back. But we also need to go get that cerebral center back."

And while Waibel has been clear he's still intent on signing a player, he's still looking to Chris Schuler as someone who might return to the team.

"Of course, not to be eliminated from the conversation is Chris Schuler in his recovery, because he is a cerebral center back," he said. "He's strong and physical, but he's also a leader back there vocally."

So there you have it — Waibel is intent on making a move, and he's also looking to potentially bring back Schuler. He's not talking here about doing one or the other instead of both.

While this obviously doesn't hand us a name or anything particularly scintillating to go on, it may just calm your nerves if you're one of the throngs of people worried about RSL's 2016 campaign.