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Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake Add English Championship Midfielder Matt Crooks

February 12, 2024 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


HERRIMAN, Utah - Real Salt Lake interim Chief Soccer Officer / Sporting Director Kurt Schmid today announced the signing of versatile midfielder Matt Crooks, the 30-year-old Englishman transferring stateside from Championship side Middlesbrough. Pending receipt of both a P-1 visa and his International Transfer Certificate (ITC), Crooks is signed with RSL through the 2026 MLS season.

"Everyone on the technical staff and in the front office are quite excited to welcome Matt Crooks to Salt Lake," said Schmid, noting that the 6-foot-4 Crooks joins Kenny Deuchar, Jamison Olave and Kevon Lambert as the tallest players in RSL's 20-year history. "Matt is a player that should fit in very well on and off the field. He brings size and veteran leadership. He has good feet and his awareness on both sides of the ball really stands out.

"Crooks is always very involved in the final third, always in the mix with the ability to score and set things up. He can combine well and he's willing to do the work with and without the ball. We always look for good characters and players who will fit in the locker room. He is a good cultural fit and a high-character person that should translate his experiences and skills to MLS."

After joining Middlesbrough in July of 2021 from Rotherham United - whom he helped earn promotion from League One in 2020 - Crooks had logged three goals and six assists for 'Boro to this point in the EFL Championship season. With 56 goals and 22 assists in his 115 total appearances at Middlesbrough, the fan favorite (nicknamed "Tree" since his youth) departs Teesside immediately, with his family to follow this summer.

"I'm quite excited to make this move, very much the right time and right fit for me," said Crooks, just a few days after RSL added another European transfer - former Greece youth international Alex Katranis - to the 2024 roster as an outside back. "In speaking to Kurt and the manager while in Portugal, they showed me how we want to play - it's pretty similar to our style at Middlesbrough. These are exciting times for MLS, I feel like the League's really growing now, with the World Cup coming over here in a couple of years' time. There's respect for football/soccer in America at the minute. I'm really looking forward to being a part of it and hopefully I can show everyone what I can do."

"RSL is obviously a tight-knit club. Really close together, similar to what I've had in the past. I've been at smaller clubs in big leagues with maybe bigger names, but the cohesion of the players and the teamwork that you put together can sometimes contribute to more than just singular talents. Which is probably something that's been a big part of my resume in the past. MLS is getting a bigger name and a better reputation. Obviously with the likes of Messi and what have you coming over, that's really enhanced the sport over here. I'm just looking forward to it. I wouldn't say I'm a Salt Lake or an RSL professor just yet, but I'm looking forward to getting to know more. That's what I'm coming over for."

Since signing a professional contract at the age of 16 at Huddersfield Town in 2010, Crooks - born in Leeds as the son of two deaf parents and a lifelong Manchester United fan, even playing in their Academy prior to his move to the Huddersfield Town youth setup - has logged 361 professional appearances across the top four levels of English football (as well as the Scottish Premiership) since his professional debut in October, 2010, scoring 66 career goals.

"The RSL style is going to be slightly different from last year. It seems to be a bit more possession based. Salt Lake fans probably won't be familiar with what Middlesbrough have done, but it's very similar. The way they build up with the 4-2-4, with the keeper as well. The two pivot midfielders quite close to one another the 4 spread up alongside them beneath the striker, which is very similar. I think my role will be as one of the 10s. I think you'd like me to be in that 10 role."

"When I first came to Middlesbrough three years ago, I was an out-and-out eight. For the first - I'd say 18 months, 20 months or so - I was playing as an eight. Then obviously the new manager came in and he played me as a nine for a little bit, and then more so this season, I've played as a ten in a similar kind of role that that we at Salt Lake play as a ten. I can do 10. I can do 8. I'm quite flexible really with regards to all that. But yeah, attacking midfielder, the 10, I like to score goals and enjoy that side of the game."

Crooks joins RSL veterans Marcelo Silva (34 years, 326 days), Maikel Chang (32-298), Zac MacMath (32-187) and Tomas Gomez (30-266) as one of five 'over-30' players on a roster that also boasts several teenagers [Luca Moisa (16-312), Luis Rivera (16-083), Axel Kei (16-053) Zavier Gozo (16-326), Fidel Barajas (17-311) Jude Wellings (17-290) and Gavin Beavers (18-287), in addition to 20-year-old Olympic hopeful Diego Luna (20-126)].

"It's nice to be around the younger lads, they make me feel younger; I just turned 30, so I know the '3-0' kind of scares some a bit, doesn't it?" added Crooks, joking about his recent birthday. "I'm excited to meet different people, from different cultures, from different backgrounds, learn and see how they've come up through the game. That's another thing about MLS and coming to Real Salt Lake, there's so many different people from different backgrounds and just getting to know people and how they work and what makes them tick and I'm just excited to be part of that and if I can help any of the lads that want to listen to my words of wisdom, I'm all for it.

Real Salt Lake will mark the 10th club in the two-way midfielder's well-traveled career. Born on 20 January, 1994, Crooks has developed a reputation at each stop as a community-invested figure, and expects to continue his work with the Peter Doody Foundation - a charity which aims to normalize epilepsy, a condition with which Crooks has been diagnosed since he was an 18-year-old - and the Jordan Sinnott Foundation Trust, for which he serves as Vice-Chair and Trustee.

"The off-field adjustment and immersion in the community are going to be good for me," continued Crooks, noting he will have a lot of spare time on his hands, especially at the start, because his family aren't coming over straight away. "So I may as well just throw myself straight in. Get involved with the community, find out more about the place and the people that live here. I have my own charity that I've set up in memory of my best friend. Maybe we could bring that stateside as well. I'll try my best to try and get that going.

Crooks will wear jersey number 25 for RSL, continuing that which he wore at Middlesbrough. RSL defender/midfielder Emeka Eneli will now wear number 14 for the 2024 campaign, with first-round 2024 MLS SuperDraft pick Matthew Bell moving to number 12.

"I'm happy that we've made the decision to come and my family is excited to really immerse ourselves in the lifestyle and the League. I've really enjoyed my time at Middlesbrough - it was not an easy decision to leave, but this was the right opportunity for me to experience something new and I'm really excited by it. I want to be successful. I want to win at the end of the day. So that's what we're here for."

Real Salt Lake returns 10 of the 11 starters from last year's postseason series against Houston for the 2024 MLS season, as well as healthy versions of both FW Chicho Arango and MF Pablo Ruiz, neither of whom were able to start in that playoff round.

The 2023 RSL side amassed the Club's seventh 50-point season all-time, and just the second since the 2014 campaign. Finishing 11th overall out of 29 teams, RSL crashed out of the postseason by the thinnest of margins for a second consecutive year (Austin 2022, Houston 2023), dropping a road shootout tiebreaker in Texas. Based on that finish, RSL will be grouped with both Houston and Liga MX side Atlas F.C. in Leagues Cup 2024 this July.

Other 2023 RSL milestones:

Accumulated an all-time Club-best road record with 12 results in 17 away MLS matches, posting an 8W-5L-4T mark with 28 of its 50 reg. season points amassed on the road; RSL's previous road bests were recorded in 2012 and 2013, with identical 6W-7L-4T marks;

RSL's home mark of 6W-7L-4T was its worst since 2007, when a 4W-7L-4T record on the Rice-Eccles turf marked the 19-year nadir;

During a nearly four-month span from mid-April to early August, RSL dropped just three of 24 games across all competitions, including MLS reg. season action, its Open Cup run to the Semifinals and its initial Leagues Cup foray;

Thirty-two (32) different players saw action for RSL in 2023, including 15-year-old FW Axel Kei and 16-year-old Zavier Gozo making their Homegrown debuts, along with Academy products GK Gavin Beavers and DF Delentz Pierre also making their first-ever first-team appearances; a trio of rookies - D/M Emeka Eneli, FW Bertin Jacquesson and FW Ilijah Paul - made their professional debuts, while FW Andrés Gómez, MF Nelson Palacio, DF Kevon Lambert and DF Brayan Vera notched their first-ever MLS appearances last season;

Since April 16, 2005, RSL has enjoyed a prominent home-field advantage on Utah soil - posting a dominant 194-83-95 (Win-Loss-Draw) record across all competitions at home (1.82 points per game for a 0.649 win pct.) - since arriving on the Wasatch Front nearly 20 years ago;

Since opening its permanent home in Sandy just over 15 years ago, in October, 2008, RSL's 164-58-75 (W-L-T) mark at America First Field - home of the "RioT" Supporters Group umbrella - equates to a 1.91 points per game average and a 0.679 win pct, one of the truly amazing value proposition in North American sporting landscape today.

ABOUT REAL SALT LAKE / UTAH ROYALS FC / REAL MONARCHS / RSL ACADEMY

During the first week of January 2022, the RSL compendium of properties was acquired by global sports entrepreneur David Blitzer - who boasts interests in the Philadelphia 76ers (NBA), the New Jersey Devils (NHL), the Cleveland Guardians (baseball) and the Washington Commanders (NFL) - as well as several European soccer entities, including Crystal Palace (England), FC Augsburg (Germany), Estoril (Portugal), ADO Den Haag (Netherlands), Alcorcón (Spain), SK Beveren (Belgium) and Brøndby IF (Denmark). The Blitzer group partners with Utah-based Smith Entertainment Group (SEG), which owns the Utah Jazz (NBA), led by Ryan Smith and including Dwyane Wade, among others.

Real Salt Lake completed its 19th Major League Soccer season this past November, its second full season under Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni, who led the Utah side on an interim basis for the final 100 days in 2021. RSL is the lone Western Conference side to have advanced to the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs in each of 2021, 2022 and 2023, amassing 13 postseason appearances in the last 16 years, as well as five occasions in the last six seasons.

RSL's MLS Cup 2009 victory marked the state of Utah's only major professional championship in nearly 40 years, the title preceding an historic run to the 2010/11 CONCACAF Champions League Final. Buoyed by a passionate base boasting several thousand season ticket holders and opening its permanent home in Sandy just over 15 years ago, since October, 2008, RSL's 164-58-75 (W-L-T) mark at America First Field - home of the "RioT" Supporters Group umbrella - equates to a 1.91 points per game average and a 0.679 win pct, one of the truly amazing value proposition in North American sporting landscape today.

For the 2024 season and beyond, Real Salt Lake's Blitzer / Smith ownership groups have partnered to bring the National Women's Soccer League back to Utah, as Utah Royals FC return in the Spring. Led by Head Coach Amy Rodriguez, President Michelle Hyncik and Sporting Director Kelly Cousins, URFC aims to seize upon the success the NWSL enjoyed during its first iteration on the Wasatch Front from 2018-20 and grow the game to even greater heights going forward. Led by visionary sports business entrepreneur Jess Gelman - the founder of the Sloan Sports Analytics Institute, along with innovative NBA executive Daryl Morey - Utah Royals FC blazes new trails in 2024.

In 2015, the club expanded its development pyramid with the addition of Real Monarchs SLC, one of several MLS-operated clubs playing in the USL Championship, the United States' Division II setup. The Monarchs boast a pair of titles in its brief history, as the 2017 USL Championship Regular-Season champions, later winning the USL Championship title in 2019. For the 2022 season and beyond, Real Monarchs compete in the newly-launched "MLS NEXT Pro" as part of a joint United States and Canada endeavor to complete the professional player pathway by connecting youth academies in MLS NEXT to first teams in Major League Soccer. The 2024 campaign will see the Monarchs represent the Club in the historic Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, a tourney open to teams from all levels of the U.S. Soccer pyramid, the first trophy hoisted back in 1914.

The entire competitive RSL setup, which includes nearly 70 players representing the RSL Academy's U-15 and U-17 teams, calls the expansive Zions Bank Training Center in Herriman, Utah their daily training home. With five world-class grass fields, two indoor turf fields, a residential dormitory, the STEM-based RSL Academy High School and the 5,000-seat Zions Bank Stadium located on a 42-acre campus, Utah's sporting future is bright.

The RSL Community Foundation was established in 2016, created with the goals of being active in the community year-round, utilizing the popularity and reach of RSL, the Royals, the Monarchs and the Academy in promoting health and wellness in children throughout the region, engaging supporters of soccer to raise funds and volunteer time for various local initiatives.

2024 RSL and Utah Royals FC Full-Season Ticket Packages NOW ON SALE at www.RSL.com or by calling 844.Real.Tix.

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