What Alfredo Ortuño could mean for RSL

Who is he?

On Wednesday afternoon Real Salt Lake announced the signing of 26-year-old Alfredo Ortuño. Ortuño is a forward who formally played for Cadiz CF, Granada and Las Palmas, among other clubs. In this last season with Cadiz he scored 17 goals but had no assists. Ortuño and Cadiz ended the 2017 season in second place in the Segunda Division.

Ortuño went through Albacete’s youth system, as did his brother, before being signed to Albacete’s first team in 2008. He stayed in the Albacete system until 2011 when he was traded and loaned to various teams. Most recently he played for Cadiz, but following that loan he tried to sign a contract with Spanish team Valladolid but due to various reasons that didn’t work out and he remained with Las Palmas; however he has now signed with Real Salt Lake.

What does this mean for RSL?

To look at this from an RSL perspective, Ortuño gives you another powerful forward in case of either injury or a lack of form from another player. Having Ortuño on the roster creates more competition for minutes among the starting strikers from last season, giving us more depth and hopefully more goals from our strikers trying to keep their spots.

Because La Liga blocks many videos from embedding on YouTube, you’ll find an assortment of highlights linked below.

Another thing Ortuño brings is just more international experience. He has spent most of his career playing in Europe with some great talent. Being comfortable with both feet and having clinical scoring ability, he’s going to bring even more fire to RSL’s front line. As well as international experience, Ortuño brings a great potential connection with Joao Plata, Jefferson Savarino and Brooks Lennon because of his knack for finding the right cross. He’s got an ability to pick out players in the box from the looks of his recent highlights.