Report: RSL set to sign Rubio Rubin

As first reported by Soccer By Ives, Real Salt Lake is finalizing the acquisition of Rubio Rubin from Landon Donovan’s San Diego Loyal of the USL.

The Oregon native seems to have found some form in San Diego, even scoring a hat trick as recently as September of this year against arguably the league best Phoenix Rising. Having only played in four matches for the Loyal, he contributed quickly scoring five goals in four games. This is impressive as it usually takes players a bit of time to acclimate to a new club.

Rubin’s potential is yet to be fulfilled to be sure, but he is still relatively young in the soccer world at 24.

At face value the signing could be a very savvy one, picking up a U.S. Men’s National Team contributor who has experience playing in Liga MX for Tijuana as well as a Liga MX 2 side under Diego Maradona. RSL acted quickly on a player who got on a hot streak and presumably does not require discretionary spending.

The real question is, if in fact this deal is legit, how much can he contribute to an RSL side that struggled throughout the year with consistency and that has not had a reliable, goal-scoring forward for years.

At this point, RSL fans need any sort of positivity we can find, so we’ll take it.