Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Real Salt Lake came into Tuesday's MLS SuperDraft with six selections — including three from trades — and made all six to stake its claim on several young players with "high ceilings," according to sporting director Kurt Schmid.
The club had the 16th and 18th picks in the first round, taking Jamaican forward Matthew Bell from Marshall first, followed by Portland defender Kevin Bonilla, who was described on the Apple broadcast as "maybe the best right back in the nation."
"I've been one of the best (college) players this year, but I know I will have to learn a lot to go to the next level," Bell said on the broadcast. "I'm willing to learn, I'm willing to improve, and I'm ready to show what I've got."
RSL took another forward with Louisville sophomore Damien Barker John at 37th overall, followed by three defenders in Louisville's Josh Jones at 47th, Georgetown's Maximus Jennings at 76th, and Duke's Ruben Mesalles at 84th.
"Just hearing my name being called. Knowing how long and hard I worked for this moment and it's finally here."
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) December 19, 2023
No. 16 pick Matthew Bell (@HerdMSoccer) after being drafted to @realsaltlake. pic.twitter.com/hQSSzRMIfT
New to the SuperDraft this year is the ability to draft underclassmen with the option to have the players return to college and retain their MLS rights. Schmid said this change caused RSL to "pick for the future" more than in the past.
"We thought that it was a good opportunity to pick some players that were maybe a little bit less on the radar this year with the eye towards them potentially going back to school and us evaluating that," Schmid said. "Having that optionality with almost all of our picks, it just gives us a lot of different paths forward."
All of the RSL picks have remaining college eligibility (five juniors and one sophomore) and can decide to return to school before the MLS preseason begins Jan. 10, 2024.
Schmid said he didn't see a "glaring need" to address in RSL's depth chart with the draft and instead looked for players at positions that translate well from college to MLS.
RSL has seen significant contributions from draft picks in each of the last two seasons with Jasper Loffelsend taken 81st overall in the 2022 SuperDraft and Emeka Eneli taken 25th overall in 2023.
