RSL, Martinez agree to contract termination

Juan Manuel Martinez is officially no longer a Real Salt Lake player, with the club announcing in a press release that he and the club agreed to a mutual contract termination.

The release cited desires of Martinez and his family to be closer to extended family in Argentina.

In the release, RSL general manager Craig Waibel cited adjustments with young children as being particularly difficult.

Juan’s Family has always been the most important thing to him. Unfortunately, the adjustment to life in Salt Lake City off the field with young kids didn’t work out as well as we all wanted it to. In the end Juan was very happy here with the organization and MLS, but at this point we feel the most important thing is to make sure that he and his family can be home and closer to their family.

In the release, Martinez thanked the club and supporters for his time in Utah.

“I want to thank Real Salt Lake for the wonderful opportunity to play in Utah. The fans were tremendous and I can’t thank them enough for their support over the last two seasons,” Martinez said. “I am proud of what we accomplished in 2016 and I want to thank my teammates, the coaches, the club and our supporters for all that they did to make this feel like home.”