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Real Salt Lake has been linked with a 20-year-old Venezuelan winger, Jefferson Savarino, who’s been playing at Zulia FC.
Reports also indicate that Sporting Kansas City is in for Savarino. This dovetails nicely with reports in the last week indicating that Real Salt Lake was set to sign a player before the close of the transfer window next week.
The news comes from multiple Venezuelan sports journalists:
Lo de Jefferson Savarino a la MLS debería confirmarse en los próx. días. Kansas City o Real Salt Lake suenan como próximo destino de "Chiki"
— Andrea Seña (@andreasela) May 2, 2017
El Real Salt Lake City y el Kansas City, de la MLS, serían los pretendientes de Jefferson Savarino
— Cristina Villalobos (@cvillalobos88) May 2, 2017
Jefferson Savarino no fue convocado para el juego ante #CaracasFC Una fuente me asegura que hay interés de Real Salt Lake y Kansas City #MLS
— Angel Cuevas (@angelgcc) May 2, 2017
Jefferson Savarino a joué son dernier match avec Zulia en Libertadores. Il va signer en MLS!! Encore un super coup. Talent en devenir #vene pic.twitter.com/Fospt4hmIg
— Golazo Trotter (@globrod) May 2, 2017
Savarino, 20, has earned minutes with the Venezuelan Under-20 side, but he has yet to make a full international debut.
In nine matches in league play in 2017, Savarino has scored six goals and earned a further two assists. He’s also played in four matches in Copa Libertadores action., scoring one goal.
We’ve sought confirmation from RSL Communications, but as with most transfer rumors, they’re not likely to offer much in the way of comment either way.
The timing here is particularly interesting, what with Joao Plata landing himself in a bit of hot water today, but it’s worth considering that Waibel discussed being very close to bringing a player in last week.
We’ll see how this one shakes out.