In many respects, Real Salt Lake got the best of both worlds in adding forward Yura Movsisyan for the coming season.
The Armenian international is coming off a strong stint playing in Europe, including a 2012-13 season during which he led the Russian Premier League in scoring (13 goals). He's a proven star with a track record of finding the back of the net.
Yet Movsisyan is not only a known quantity in MLS, but also a familiar face locally – he helped RSL to its lone MLS Cup title in 2009.
It was clear during Movsisyan's re-introduction to local media on Tuesday that he will be counted on immediately to score goals, a challenge he didn't appear to shy away from.
"Now I'm back to prove that I'm going to be one of the best strikers in this league," he said.
And Real Salt Lake head coach Jeff Cassar said the rest of the league has already taken notice.
"After the buzz started to happen around the combine in Fort Lauderdale, a lot of coaches told us what a wonderful pick-up it was," Cassar said. "When you have a forward that puts fear into coaches and the opposing team, that is what you want. It's not just with Yura, but all of our attacking players and the players we are going to announce. We'll have a team that people fear."
RSL finished with the league's second-fewest goals in 2015, the first season in eight that they didn't qualify for the playoffs. Movsisyan believes he's a much better player this time around.
“One thing I do a lot better now is all I need is one chance to score a goal, which I didn’t do before. Before I needed five, six, seven chances to score one goal. I think that’s the composure that I have now. Give me one chance and I will score,” he said.
There had been rumblings and rumors for months about a possible return of Movsisyan to Utah but all parties agreed on Tuesday it was not easy to line everything up for it to come together.
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RSL owner Dell Loy Hansen even claimed Movsisyan had a tougher road than most to make his dream of "coming home" a reality.
“Nobody was backing down easy, this was a very difficult deal to get done,” said Hansen.
In the end, he got his wish, and the next items on Movsisyan's to-do list are to score 20 goals in a season and "win championships" for his club.
