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General Manager Dan Egner has announced the arrival of Jamal Charles, a 22-year-old forward/midfielder on loan from Club Deportivo y Social Vida in Liga Nacional de Futbol Profesional de Honduras this morning. His arrival to the Utah club is pending league and federation approval and the receipt of his International Transfer Certificate (ITC) and P-1 Visa.
“Jamal is a player who holds all the tools to succeed at the USL level,” Egner said. “He has succeeded in numerous leagues throughout his young career, as well as with his national team. He scores goals everywhere he goes, and the hope is that he will continue to do that in a Real Monarchs shirt. We currently don’t have a player with Jamal’s profile on our roster, so we’re looking forward to him adding something different to the squad, and contributing throughout the home stretch of the season.”
Charles represented Grenada at the U-20 level in the 2014 CONCACAF U-20 Championship qualifying tournament and with the senior team in the 2nd and 3rd round of CONCACAF qualification for the 2018 World Cup. He scored a goal against Puerto Rico in the second round after coming on as a late substitue.
Jamal signed professional with W Connection FC in Trinidad and Tobago for the 2015- 2016 and 2016-2017 seasons. In his second season W Connection finished as runner-ups in the T&T Pro League and qualified as a Caribbean team into the 2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League. Although his side failed to progress beyond the group stage Jamal scored a poacher’s goal in the match with Pumas UNAM (video) after coming on as a substitute.
Moving on to Club Deportivo y Social Vida in Liga Nacional de Futbol Profesional de Honduras for the 2017-2018 season where he made 30 starts and scored 14 goals (video) while playing a total of 2606 minutes. Perhaps in part because of moves to move him out on loan he has not yet appeared in for Vida in the preseason lead up to the Apertura portion of the 2018-2019 Honduran season.
“It feels great to be joining a club like Real Monarchs,” Charles said of his move. “It’s a dream come true to be able to arrive at a club of this level. I want to contribute as many goals as I can to help the club win as many games as possible. I’m looking forward to giving it my all each and every day to help this club.”
Although identified as a midfielder in the Monarchs’ press release, a large part of his time in Honduras was spent as a forward on top of the attack. It is hoped that Charles can bring a bit of height and size to the Monarchs attack when he arrives.