RSL trades former academy player Ben Spencer's to Toronto for TAM

Real Salt Lake has traded the MLS rights of Ben Spencer to Toronto FC in exchange for targeted allocation money, according to a club press release.

Spencer, a 20-year-old member of US youth national teams, signed for Norwegian club Molde in 2013. Before that, he played for Chivas USA's academy and Real Salt Lake's.

In 2011, RSL offered him a first-team contract he clearly didn't sign, which gave the club the right of first refusal. It was also in 2011 that Spencer left the club, joining Greg Vanney when he left the RSL Academy for Chivas USA's.

Spencer signed last year for Toronto's USL side, Toronto FC II. He's followed Vanney again, as he's joining him at their first team.

It remains to be seen if RSL general manager Craig Waibel will use the allocation in short order. He is actively looking to sign a center back, and targeted allocation money could make that slightly easier. This isn't likely to be a large amount of that, though, so it may simply be a chunk of value the team was able to gain in exchange for the player's MLS rights.