Real Salt Lake finalizes permanent move for Yura Movsisyan from Russian club


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SANDY — When Yura Movsisyan returned to Real Salt Lake last winter, he maintained the loan move from Russia’s Spartak Moscow was a mere formality.

Salt Lake City was the place he and his young family wanted to be.

On Monday, RSL made the formality a finality.

Salt Lake permanently acquired the Armenian international forward from Spartak and signed him to a new contract for 2017, the club announced Monday.

“Real Salt Lake and the whole Utah community have been extremely welcoming for me and my family,” Movsisyan said. “This is home for us. This is where we want to be.”

The move builds on Movsisyan’s original one-year loan that included an option to buy before December of this year. After making 24 starts in 2016, RSL was ready to purchase the designated player’s contract outright and add additional time in a claret and cobalt kit.

The 29-year-old forward scored a team-best nine goals with three assists in 27 appearances across 2016, which wraps up the regular season Sunday against Sporting Kansas City.

The season was Movsisyan’s second stint with RSL after helping the club win the MLS Cup in 2009 during his three-season campaign.

After scoring 15 goals for RSL en route to the title, Movsisyan signed with Danish club Randers FC and eventually made the jump to the Russian Premier League.

But he always had an eye on a return to Salt Lake.

“Yura has obviously been an important part of this club, both now and in the past,” RSL coach Jeff Cassar said. “All can see what his quality has added to our roster and what it means for us getting results. Having him come back to the club with this kind of commitment, showing the love that he has for this club, this community and this state demonstrates what kind of person Yura is.”

Movsisyan left Salt Lake in the early stages of a club and international career, with less family obligations and no children. Now a married father of three, the Pasadena, California, native considers the Salt Lake Valley his community. Shoring up his contract for another year allows him to focus on helping RSL solidify its first postseason berth in two years, currently sitting fourth in the Western Conference and in the thick of a bid to host a midweek play-in match Oct. 26.

“For me, it’s been a long time I’ve been wanting to come back,” Movsisyan said in January. “Obviously Salt Lake was my first choice because it was such a great place for me and my family. I felt at home in Utah. Leaving with a championship — I want to come back and do that again.”

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