The Salt: Savarino rumors heat up, Plata rumors cool down

Oh, hello. I didn’t see you there.

I know it’s been a while since we’ve seen Real Salt Lake in action, but I’m sure hoping that you’ve been enjoying all the soccer you’ve been able to partake in. There’s been a lot, from the Women’s World Cup to the Gold Cup to the U.S. Open Cup.

And there’s been lots of good stuff, honestly. It’s all been a whole lot more entertaining than the last few Real Salt Lake games, though maybe I say that because my allegiances are not quite as tightly knit for country as they are for club, and so there’s a certain aspect of not-fun that creeps into basically every RSL game ever.

Anyway, that’s not why I’m here. I’m here to talk about rumors.

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(Not that I have new ones. That’s not really the point.)

The Jefferson Savarino Rumor

So, Savarino to a Premier League team sounds pretty tasty, especially if we get good money for his move. But even the tastiest things can come with a cost, and in this case, it’s a cost of sadness. Would we be well-served executing such a move? Oh, yeah. I think so.

Or at least, I think so if we’re willing to replace him with a better player. Or maybe a player with better potential. Or even a player with similar potential, because really, that’s a whole lot of potential right there, especially in MLS.

Do I think it’ll happen? Ah — I don’t know. Moves have a weird way of falling apart. There’s plenty of smoke here, and I think we can be confident that there’s genuine interest here and it’s not a 100 percent agent-created rumor, but at the same time — it’s far from complete.

The Joao Plata Rumor

So.

Joao Plata was said to be days away from a move, and somehow, he’s still right here. Or in Ecuador. Honestly, I’m not sure where he is right now, but I know he posted photos more recently from Ecuador — his Instagram story, maybe? Sometimes it would be nice if those stuck around.

It looks like he was there on Sunday — or maybe he just posted a picture on Sunday with his agent in Ecuador. Anyway, he was in Ecuador for a surprising amount of time.

The last thing I saw was that Atletico San Luis had too many international players and couldn’t sign Plata — now, that could be a temporary state, and it could simply emerge that things worked themselves out. But here we are.

Anyway, it’s been several days since a rumor in that regard appeared. Please send help.

What else?

I actually think there could be more movement than we’re anticipating. I don’t know that it’s a bad thing, but I’m frankly a little frightened. Change is tough.

Here are my top five players who might leave this summer, without anything to indicate why I think they could.

• Jefferson Savarino
• Joao Plata
• Albert Rusnak
• Sebastian Saucedo
• Sam Johnson (please no)

Off-topic

I’ve actually not got too much to talk about. It’s funny, because it’s been a while, so I should have something. I don’t. Except maybe that I’m super excited for the Nintendo Switch titles coming out this year, and that I’m 100 percent ready for a sequel to Breath of the Wild.

Oh, and also, I ended up at Disneyland last week and wore a Star Trek shirt to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. So, yeah. I’m that guy. (To be fair, I saw more than one other person wearing a Star Trek shirt there. I’m not alone.)