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Real Salt Lake Releases Protected Player List in Advance of 2011

November 22, 2010 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


SANDY, Utah (Monday, November 22, 2010) - In conjunction with Major League Soccer, Real Salt Lake has announced the 11 players on the club's Protected Player list in advance of the 2011 MLS Expansion Draft this Wednesday, November 24. The following 11 RSL players will not be eligible for selection by the Portland Timbers or Vancouver Whitecaps when the expansion sides make their picks in two days' time:

GK Nick Rimando

DF Tony Beltran

DF Nat Borchers

DF Jamison Olave

DF Chris Wingert

MF Kyle Beckerman

MF Will Johnson

MF Javier Morales

FW Fabian Esp=EDndola

FW Paulo Junior

FW =C1lvaro Sabor=EDo

In addition to those 11 players, MF Luis Gil is automatically protected as a current member of the Generation adidas player development initiative. Existing MLS squads can lose a maximum of two players in the Expansion Draft, with teams allowed to pull a player back onto its Protected Player list once one of its members has been selected by the Timbers or Whitecaps, both of which will be able to select 10 players. A complete list of the Expansion Draft rules and eligible players can be found on the Expansion Draft Page of MLSsoccer.com.

With the Protected Player list established, this means that the following players currently under contract with Real Salt Lake will be available for selection by Portland and Vancouver. Representatives from all 18 MLS clubs will participate in an Expansion Draft teleconference which will be streamed on MLSsoccer.com during a special LIVE edition of ExtraTime Radio, with coverage beginning at 11:45 a.m. MT and the draft following at noon.

Goalkeepers: Tim Melia, Kyle Reynish

Defenders: David Horst, Rauwshan McKenzie, Robbie Russell, Chris Schuler

Midfielders: Jean Alexandre, Nelson Gonzalez, Ned Grabavoy, Alex Nimo (2010 Generation adidas graduate), Collen Warner, Andy Williams

Forwards: Pablo Campos, Robbie Findley

With much interest surrounding the status of Findley, Real Salt Lake V.P. of Soccer Operations and General Manager Garth Lagerwey issued the following statement regarding the striker's ongoing contract negotiations with the club and Major League Soccer:

"Robbie Findley has informed us that he has offers overseas and will be pursuing an opportunity outside of Major League Soccer as the next step in his career," said Lagerwey. "We respect his decision and thank him for his immensely valuable contributions to Real Salt Lake, as we could not have won a championship without him. We wish Robbie the best of luck with his future endeavors."

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