Ral salt Lake is back in action. Coming up on Saturday, they hit the Roady take on Nashville. They'll be back home to take on Toronto the week after that after getting all three points over the weekend against the LA Galaxy. Our next guest sporting director, decision maker, intelligent soccer minds and a good time if you want to grab some dinner hangout.
Kurt Schmidt. Tuesday afternoon, Kurt, how are you, sir?
I'm good.
It sounds like you are in transit somewhere. Where do we find you on this lovely Tuesday?
Yeah? Yeah, in transit, heading heading home and I gotta get on the phone when I get there. So was lucky to squeeze in.
Well, I feel lucky you made time.
Do you have to get on the phone with a potential signing or two that you are trying to get across the line prior to the transfer window closing in about two and a half weeks?
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's definitely related.
So okay, fair enough? Follow up? Where we at in this process?
You know, the last few weeks, it's been Jason, it's been Tony, it's been uh, Pablo a couple of different times, and since you are the guy and the buck stots with you.
Yes, I know it's a collaboration.
You guys are talking together in a room, you know, ourself, fans chomping.
At the bid.
Are we getting close to getting these things across the line?
Yeah, Yeah, we're getting close, you know, not sleeping a ton, trying to trying to adjust my body clock to to try to match the European time change a little bit. But we're getting close a little bit, a little bit every day. Obviously we all want it to go a little bit faster, but it takes what it takes.
Well.
Since you alluded to your body adjusting to the European clock, I imagine you are speaking with players that play there soccer in Europe?
Is that fair to say?
I can't believe I let that slip.
Europe's a big place, Kurt. There are plenty of soccer teams over there. I mean a lot of people.
Wondering, because look, I could read you the rumors that I see online, and I've got three strikers in front of me that I'll play at MLS that you've been linked to. But you're speaking the players internationally or are you speaking of players domestically too.
Yeah, I mean there's not one option, right, so we've got a couple options. There are some options in the league. You know. It's teams are in an interesting spot. We're right around that time where you know they've got what they or they think they know what they've got. After the early games of the season, we're coming up towards the trade deadline, so you're going to start to see
some movement within the league. So that may impact things as well, you know, but what we're looking for is is a tough spot, you know, a tough position to kind of fill. Always from within the league. You know, I think there's a few good candidates that could take a step and be contributors, but you know, it's a tough position to internally and usually have to go broad to get to get someone in there.
As you know, Kurt, and now we'll tell our listeners the primary transfer window closes in two weeks, so we're looking at a hard deadline of April to twenty third. What's realistic to expect as far as making these additions prior to this window and then the process of getting them on the ground and how long it takes to get them acclimated to the system, and what's reasonable to expect when we could actually see them playing significant minutes and hopefully helping you guys out.
Yeah, I mean, there's obviously the deal, you know, the deal and time it takes that to get done, which is where we're at right now, and hopefully finishing that up. There's the immigration process, which you know can't be forgotten. I think the the you know, that's usually three to four weeks, depending on a few different factors that are of our hands. And then you know your your comments about getting out acclimated and adjusted to the system, That
obviously is the thing that takes probably the longest. You know, we play with with a little more structure, maybe than than a lot of teams where we might be recruiting from, and so it'll take teams that take players a minute to you know, do enough video and get on the same page with their teammates and the coaches and fit in. But we still think a guy can come in and have an immediate impact and create danger and help us right away.
How many players are you hoping to have signed before April twenty third?
I will I will say, I'm I'm really hopeful we get one guy in. If there's another one that we can do, we'll do it. You know, we're we're keeping our ears open, our eyes open to what's out there, whether that's internal trades or abroad. You know, obviously we have an international player limit which we are always kind of bumping up against. So the odds of an additional signing being domestic are quite high.
So of course everybody is surmising that. And for our listeners if you're just tuning in, Kurt Schmid is with us. So if there's one player across the line, is it safe to say that that player is a striker?
Uh? Yeah, sure, it's pretty safe. Okay, definitely an attacker, and it's someone that can play center forward for US. I think, you know, Ari and Forster have done well. You know, even hayesus has come on there and done well. There's still young players that you know, we'll have their
up and ups and downs. We believe in all all through those guys, you know, but I think sometimes it helps to have more experienced player come in and you know, shoulder some of the burden, some of the load and and you know, teach those guys as well and help those guys develop So we are developmental club, as you know, so we're gonna keep developing those guys. But yeah, we need to add a little more experience in that part of the field.
If there should be a set secondary player added, what position would that secondary player play.
That's a great question. Likely in the attack, but not closed off to anything. I think some of it is is finding a good opportunity and something that we can we can exploit, but likely looking to add some more
competition in the attack. I think our competition in the in the middle of midfield and in the back line has been has been good early in the season, you know, but upfront is where we you know, we haven't scored as many goals, and our competition there is maybe quite quite as good as it is in the back right now.
Are you satisfied with the goal opportunities that are created, because it's one thing to have a pure goal scorer, and certainly we've had a few on this team, and one is recently last year as Chicho that was able to put away a lot of chances. But you can't put away chances that they're not created. So are you satisfied with the create activity the attacking ability of your players right now that are providing the chances that hopefully these new players will be able to finish.
Happy, Yes, satisfied. No, you know it's it's obviously just the math equation, right. You've got to score more than you let in. So if you want to win games, you either got to let in fewer goals or score more. So I look at it, you know, as yes, we do need to create higher quality chances, and in more games, we need to create higher quality chances than we can see in those games. I think defensively, you know, we can. We can tighten things up as well, and I think
we've been a little unlucky. We've also conceded some some quality chances on the defensive end as well. But those things are always intertwined, and I know that, uh, you know, if we're able to finish of some chances that we're creating earlier in games, that lightens the load on those guys. So I want to do both. I want to increase the chances we the quality of the chances we create, and decrease the quality chances that we concede. But I think those things are interdependent.
So as somebody who is acutely aware of the difficulties that decision makers like you face when it comes to getting these deals done. I know that I'll ask you about the delays as to why this has taken place, and we could go in a million different directions. So ultimately, how would you characterize and articulate to RSL fans why these signings have not been able to be completed yet?
Yeah, I mean, look, it takes at two and in this case three to tango, right, You've got to get us another club and another player all on the same page at the same time to get a deal done. And we're only in control of one of those three parties, so we are at the whim of other parties a lot of the time. And and sorry, they'll train a thought, but when we when we go out and we're talking
to these clubs, you know, they have their own motivation. Okay, they could they could be motivated to sell or not their windows closed, which we seees in advantage sometimes in MLS that our windows stays open so long, but it can also be disadvantaged because as we go and talk to clubs, they you know, if they've got a player who's performing for them in that moment, they don't always want to let that guy go if they can't replace him, so we're kind of battling battling those that pushful.
It has been reported pretty widely widely excuse me, first by Sportico and then ultimately the Salt Lake Tribune and others, that there is a what I've been told is an eminent ownership shift where the Miller family is coming in to take the business interests on of the team. Ryan Smith will exit stage left to focus on other things, and the Blitzer group will maintain whatever control they maintain. The natural follow up, Kurtis, has this ownership stuff in
this transition? Has this delayed your ability to make some of these decisions and get it done.
I'll just tell you that I'm I'm far too worried and busy with with trying to get some signings over the line to comment to you about any ownership situation.
Fair enough and smart answer, But I do want to go back to what you referenced, because I think I think Ralpha Kapral has been really, really good. And as you referenced earlier, you know it's a math equation. You've got to put in more than you give up and maybe lost in the attention on the attack is you guys have given up eleven goals, which is third worst in the West. Are we focused too much on one area of your team when maybe there's other areas that we need to be honed in on as well.
Yeah, absolutely, I do think we need to tighten things up in the back. But as I said before, the things that those things are interdependent. So on the one hand, there's a psychological opponent where if you feel like, you know, if you're playing center back or goal keep for you know, anywhere on the back line, and you feel like your team can score a goal, you play with a little more confidence and maybe you're a little loose or left tense,
and that helps you play better. Uh, even if that that guy doesn't score, but if if you're worried about that, potentially you know, and maybe we miss a good chance or two, and now it shakes everybody a little bit. So from that standpoint, there's a psychological component. Defense is also a team game. Rafa, I think Rafa has been you know, very good, despite the stat you mentioned, I
think he's played really well. He's led the back line, he's been good in possession, He's made some good says, but you know, there's ten guys in front of him that also have have a responsibility to limit the chances that that we give up so that Rafa doesn't have to be as good or have to do as much, and so we need to we need to work on both of them.
So of course, uh, you know, a lot of attention right now on Diego, deservedly so with his recent national team call ups, his kind of cult you know status there, with his ability to play through injury and that broken nose and was named the Utah Male Athlete of the Year, got a brace for you guys against the Galaxy, becomes the youngest RSL player to tally fifteen goals fifteen assists, and it's only it's only good news as you reference
your developmental club. And as Jason said on the show last week, we're a club that you know, we don't necessarily ride a check for ten million dollars for a player. We develop a check and then sell that player for ten million dollars. I would imagine, Kurt, your phone has to ring all the time about this young man.
Yeah, look, Diego's doing doing great. How much my phone is or isn't ringing? In relation to him, you know, is not really the point. I think the club, the club values him aton I value him a ton. I know the coaches value him a ton, and and my goal is to keep him here where he's performing at a good level as long as we can, you know, and how long that is is you know, again, like I said, as long as we can keeping ear and he's happy here, you know, we're happy to happy to
keep him intent. So you know, all that other stuff is, you know, we don't want it to become a distraction, either for us or for him, or for the fans or anybody. Let's just you know, the point is to enjoying them while he's here and have him help us be as successful as possible.
But also, by your own admission and the admission of others, the point is, in addition to keeping them happy and keeping them playing well, the point, the other point is to continue the club's ethos and belief that you are a team that identifies young talent, develops that young talent, and then moves that young talent on if you can,
you know, get the right price. So what are what are the the plates that you're juggling and spinning around above your head as you're balancing out what the right thing is to do for a player that is on record saying that he wants to play in Europe, and as the chief decision maker for a club that is on record saying this is what we do.
We develop young and then we sell.
Yeah we developed, we did we buy or you know, draft or bring through the academy young players. We developed them, and yeah we sell them, but we don't you know, we don't need to sell all of them. We do need to sell some to keep the sort of cycle churning and the cycle going. But every situation is different, right so Jego situation, it will be different and is different from Andreas or Fodel or anyone else that we're
talking about. We're also a club, you know, and as I'm you know, working on the team and the roster and building things up that you know, we we do need to have some uh some pillars of the of the group right that that can be on the team for a long time. And right now you've got guys like Ohita, You've got guys like a Mecca to two guys that play in the middle of the field that you know, I think could be could be longer term
players here. Brian has already been here, you know, a few years, and I think when I got here, you know, it was sort of the end of uh or. We're coming towards the end of a cycle where we you know, we had de Miror and we had Albert, we had Cello. You know, we had some good veteran guys that has sort of you know, aight out or left the team. And now we've got to replace that aspect as well.
And as you know, as as you pointed out as us and pointed out, we're maybe not going to go buy you know, six seven, eight, nine, ten million dollar guy to fill that role, but we think we can develop guys into that role as well. So the player development aspect, you know, has has more than one logical endpoint.
So let's get an update, progress update in your opinion or lack thereof, wherever you're at with it. For Diogo, who on paper is your only designated player, and you know, the breakaway against La you got to at least make the keeper make a safe, you know. But but I will give him credit because he's the one that won the ball back and provided the secondary assist on Diego's
first goal. But I just think in that spot, you know, with all the attention and fanfare he received when he was signed, I think there are people that are wanting more.
Where are you at hurt with the progress of Diogo?
Yeah, I think he's playing really well this year. I think he's facilitating the game a lot. You mentioned the first goal. Second, you know, he facilitates uh in the in the possession for the second goal as well. And you know, him getting those chances is a huge positive. You know, when we look at recruitment and scouting and evaluate players within without the league, we you know, we look at things like expected goals and expected assists and
is this guy creating chances better a flight quality? Is he is he taking you know, he's taking shots of a high quality, And you know those are areas where Jogo's donald right this season and the execution needs to get there. And I think, you know, when he continues to create those chances, I do think he's going to finish them. You know, he's obviously got the one goal this year arguably should have uh you know, the second one from you know, second one should have been in
LA against LA one hundred percent. But I know he's a team guy, and he's nobody's harder on Diogo than Diogo for for missing a chance like that. But I'm just I'm I couldn't be happier to see it manifest itself in him fighting to win that ball back and create our first goal, to help us score the second goal. And he's a team guy, and I know he's he's certainly far happier that we went, that we win the game than he is upset that he missed the chance.
One spot, Kurt, that I've felt and this this is just you know, this is something you're gonna have to walk me through because I just I like Alex Catranis, and I think there's a lot to like the Alex and Sam battle at that spot.
I think, you know, it's one thing when.
You guys had the Conky Calf Champions League kind of schedule sneak up on you where you're gonna have a bunch of midweek games. But when that went out at the table, I just figured that spot was Alex's. And there's nothing wrong with a healthy competition, But what do you make of that battle and how it's kind of played out?
I think, yeah, competition is the watchword, right, it's he's he's had that position. Last year, he didn't have as much competition for that spot, you know. This year Sam came in to kind of help us out in two spots that left center back and left back and help us through fix your congestion. One was in Concast Champions League, hopefully another as a run in in Lenked Cup. But yeah, right now, when it's one game a week, it's it's competition.
And when we have competition between two guys that can both start in this league at the same position, that's gonna make each of them, you know, perform at the top of their game. So I think Sam's appearance as Sam starts or something that's gonna motivate Alex and sharpen him up. And I thought he had a good game on Saturday, and I know that's gonna do the same
to Sam. And I think if we have those two guys pushing each other as hard as possible, it's gonna make us as as good as possible, regardless who starts right. So that's that's the goal when we strive to build that depth and competition. And as I said earlier, I think we've done a good job of that. Along the back.
Line, how healthy are you guys? Heading into the weekend in Nashville?
Picked up a knock or two that we're still working on obviously, you know Kobe Henry last week, this week, you know, maybe maybe one more. Uh, it's a little too early to kind of say, gonna gonna have to see how the next couple of days ago.
All right, before I say you loose, Uh, I've heard that Nashville soccer specific, Uh stadium is pretty is pretty cool?
Is this your You've been there before, haven't you?
Yeah? Yep?
What's your what's your favorite visiting venue? What's what's the best atmosphere? If I take our spot away here, what's what's your favorite venue to go watch a game at?
I won't I won't pick one. I mean, I think I think places like Portland, like l a. C. Even like Minnesota, Austin. When those places are are alive, they're they're really they're entertaining to watch, and they're they're intimidating atmospheres to to play in as as a visiting team, and I think they're just as a soccer fan, they're just you know, like a wonderful place is to watch
a game and to experience a game. I know there's a few others that I'm missing, and you know, apologize, I guess, but there's some really good atmospheres, and I think, you know, from a stadium standpoint, there's obviously been some really nice stadiums built recently within the league. You know, we were just in Minnesota. That's a really nice stadium.
You know, Nashville is certainly one of them. You know, I mentioned also already, but they're one of them as well, you know, So there are some, you know, there's some nice stadiums in the league these days. So it's really it's a pleasure for the for the players, and it's a far cry from back in the day when when this thing started up.
No doubt.
All right, buddies, safe travels will set you loose because you have more important phone calls to make, namely in Europe.
Thanks for the time about with chat too.
Perfect Thanks man.
Kurt Schmidt, sporting director for Real Salt Lake. Two weeks away from the primary transfer window closing,