Waibel confident Luis Silva deal will get done

The move to bring Luis Silva back to Real Salt Lake after a one-year move to Mexican powerhouse Tigres looks to be inching toward completion.

The latest? Real Salt Lake general manager Craig Waibel told MLSSoccer.com that the move is “in Tigres’ hands now,” and that he’s confident a deal will get done.

RSL Communications independently confirmed to us today that discussions are still underway regarding a move for Silva.

“It’s in Tigres’ hands now,” Waibel said. “We have had conversations through Luis’ agents that we feel very confident it will get done.”

That’s perfectly in line with what Craig Waibel told reporters last week. From the Salt Lake Tribune:

"I think we're all the way down the line to the point where it's whether or not the ink dries," Waibel said.

It’s difficult to say where exactly Silva would play, given he’s almost certainly going to be behind newcomer Albert Rusnák in the central attacking midfield position. He’s not the sort of player RSL would be likely to bring back if they didn’t think he’d play — he’s not some youngster with potential; he’s a 28-year-old with good experience under his belt.

But Silva is versatile, and he could provide extra depth in that position, and he could find starting minutes either deeper in the midfield — perhaps when two defensive midfielders aren’t necessary — or wider in the lineup. During his 2015 stint at Real Salt Lake, he played on the right side and centrally, but certainly, the tactical approach has changed somewhat since then.

Bringing Silva back now could mean bringing back a player with two years of his ‘prime’ playing time left — while he hasn’t really played much for Tigres in the last two years, midfielders tend to hit their prime between 26 and 30. If the move is a loan like was rumored — there’s no confirmation to this right now, though — it does mitigate any risk for Real Salt Lake.

We’ll see when this one happens, but it’s sure looking close.

A previous version of this story misstated the number of years Silva has been away from Real Salt Lake. He left following the completion of the 2015 season, so he has been gone for only one year.