Rumor: Javier Morales to join FC Dallas

Former Real Salt Lake midfielder Javier Morales looks like he might have already landed at a new team in MLS: FC Dallas.

Morales, 36 — turning 37 in January — played with Real Salt Lake from 2007 to 2016 before exiting dramatically following the conclusion of RSL’s extremely short playoff run.

This rumor has legs, with FC Dallas’s technical director, Fernando Clavijo, saying in a Facebook chat recently that his club was set to replace creative midfielder Mauro Diaz through free agency.

While we’re certainly not qualified to talk about Morales replacing Diaz and the efficacy of that, it’s certainly an interesting move.

Morales’s RSL exit came with a fair bit of controversy, with the player holding a press conference independent of the club, and organizing a fan meet-and-greet separately, as well.

RSL general manager Craig Waibel had said several times that Real Salt Lake had offered Morales a new contract. Morales was rumored to have told some that he was planning to return to Salt Lake City eventually — perhaps at the end of his playing career. Whenever that happens, it’s certainly not happening yet.