Juan Manuel Martinez signs with Velez on short-term deal

It’s been a while since we talked about Juan Manuel Martinez — Burrito, if you will — but the former Real Salt Lake player has finally landed at a club again, and it’s one he knows well.

Velez Sarsfield, Martinez’s first club, and the one he played at for a decade, has signed him to a year-and-a-half deal, with a termination clause at six months. Martinez left Real Salt Lake earlier this offseason, when the club and the player agreed to a contract termination that would allow Martinez the opportunity to return to Argentina.

That’s an interesting deal for a lot of reasons — a six-month termination clause is certainly unusual, and while this doesn’t specify what could prompt the exercise of that clause, it does make us think. If it’s a clause Martinez fought for, it may give some hints that help explain his decline in form halfway through the 2016 season. Of course, that’s simple speculation, so don’t read too much into that.

We’re covering this not because we expect Martinez to return after his Velez contract, but because for a little over a year, we thought he could be the answer in attack. He made himself one of us, and where he goes is something we take a lot of interest in.

Good luck, Burrito.