Is Cristobal Jorquera again an RSL target? A recent surgery may rule that out.

Wouldn’t you just know it, but Cristobal Jorquera has yet again flitted into the Real Salt Lake rumor pool — this time, it’s a Turkish outlet (and subsequently, MLSSoccer.com) reporting that he’s likely MLS-bound.

Real Salt Lake nearly signed him in late June and early July, but the deal reportedly fell apart due to a discrepancy in wage demands. But in October, there were again reports that Jorquera could be heading to Real Salt Lake in the winter — and here we are, in the winter.

This latest report uses the fact that he wasn’t traveling to training camp with Bursaspor as evidence.

This rumor, though, likely doesn’t have legs. That’s because not long ago, Jorquera underwent a surgery to repair a hernia — another Turkish report specifies that he’s not involved in their training camp for that reason, and that he wasn’t cleared to fly as a result of that surgery.

Now, it’s possible the recovery time was short — these two facts may not be mutually exclusive, of course. But it certainly gives us reason to think there’s more than one explanation, and that this rumor is bubbling up only because of earlier reports.

Time will tell on this one.