Where are they now? Freddy Adu, Artur Aghasyan, Chris Agorsor

A lot of players have spent time on Real Salt Lake’s roster over the years; some arrived with great fanfare, others merely a mere mention. Some showed promise, while others never saw the field.

It’s been a while since the Soapbox looked back on any of the former players in our series Where Are They Now.

Freddy Adu

Freddy was the “wonderkid” of American soccer for a while back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2004 he became the youngest player to be drafted in MLS at age 14, D.C. United selected him as their #1 draft pick (after some negotiation by MLS with Dallas Burn, which previously had the first pick.) He remained with D.C. for three seasons, scoring 11 goals in 87 appearances; then he got shipped off to us as part of a package deal that included Nick Rimando. He played 11 games for RSL in 2007, scoring only one regular season goal, after which he followed his desire to play in Europe, signing with Portuguese side Benfica.

His time in Europe didn’t pan out as well as planned, and after several loans, Adu returned stateside with the Philadelphia Union in 2011, only to be released after three seasons. After that he bounced around numerous locations including Brazil, England, Norway, Serbia and Finland before once again returning to the US to play in the USL with the Tampa Bay Rowdies, then Las Vegas Lights. He was released by the Lights after the 2018 season, and he has been without a team since.

Now at age 30, he’d still like to play if given the chance, but for now he’s coaching youth teams in Baltimore.

Artur Aghasyan

Aghasyan showed up on RSL’s radar back in 2009, but wasn’t signed until 2011. Real Salt Lake brought him in primarily as a depth player; Robbie Findley had left for England, and they had just brought in Alvaro Saborio on loan after the team lost in the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League finals. And well... we won’t bring that up again.

Aghasyan made only four regular season appearances for RSL in 2011 with only one start. He was released by RSL in July 2011, and went to play for LA Blues in USL Pro for the rest of their season. He then signed with Cal FC for a year before returning to his first US team Ventura County Fusion in the USL PDL again where he remained until 2018.

Currently Artur has been coaching young players. He holds soccer clinics in Glendale, California, and is the Director of Coaching for the Glendale FC youth soccer organization.

Chris Agorsor

Frankly, it’s easy to forget that this Chris was on RSL’s roster since we had two others at the same time (Wingert & Schuler), Agorsor was another young player signed for depth during the last half of the 2011 season — just after Aghasyan (above) was released.

This Chris was a very promising young player who joined MLS in 2011 by a weighted lottery. During college he had racked up an impressive record with the University of Virginia, and received invitations to train with Manchester United and Portuguese side CD Nacional.

Ultimately he opted to sign with MLS, and Philadelphia Union won his rights. His time in Philly didn’t pan out as planned; he played several games with their reserve side, but did not get any caps with the first team; he was released midseason. From there, he came to Utah on trial, and RSL signed him in July.

As with Philly, he never really broke through at RSL. His one and only appearance was as a substitute for the final 10 minutes of a loss against Vancouver Whitecaps. Real Salt Lake followed Philly’s lead and released him at the end of 2011. Agorsor signed with USL side Richmond Kickers in 2012 where he played 24 games across all competitions, and his eight goals earned him the team’s golden boot that year. Richmond released him after that season effectively ending his soccer career as there are no further records of him playing professionally.

Currently he is a real estate agent in the Washington, D.C., area.