MLS Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake Completes Transfer for Dual-National U-17 Talent Fidel Barajas

Published on January 11, 2024 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


HERRIMAN, Utah - Real Salt Lake today completed the transfer to acquire 17-year-old FW Fidel Barajas from the Charleston Battery (USL Championship). In order to ascend to the top of Major League Soccer's waiver order and complete the Barajas transaction, RSL traded $50,000 in 2024 General Allocation Money (GAM) and its No. 17 overall waiver position to Toronto FC. Barajas, an active member of Mexico's U-17 setup, born in Sacramento, Calif., and formerly a member of the San Jose academy, is signed with RSL through the 2026 MLS campaign, with Club options for the 2027 and 2028 seasons.

"Fidel's obviously a very, very talented young player, able to represent both U.S. and Mexico at the youth national team level," said RSL Sporting Director Kurt Schmid, now in his first window as the Utah side's Chief Soccer Officer. "Fidel is technical. He's got a great left foot. He has the ability to beat guys 1v1 from either flank. He has great vision on the field. He has good awareness. He's a player that's been highly thought of throughout youth soccer in this country."

"What attracts us to guys like Fidel as a prospect - and Diego Luna before him - is the track record behind them, playing professionally at a young age and competing with men. It is difficult to step up to those levels and deal with the physical challenges as well as the technical and tactical challenges that are presented. Everyone's bigger, faster, stronger and there's reduced space and time on the ball. So Fidel's ability to adjust to that quickly, certainly grabs our attention and gives us something that we can build on, and gives him a foundation as he adapts to the next level in MLS."

On the global stage, Barajas has featured for the Mexican U-17 national team in 25 matches, scoring eight goals. The Sacramento-born starlet - the third USL-to-RSL acquisition since May, 2022, following the footsteps of MF Diego Luna (El Paso) and D/M Kevin Lambert (Phoenix) - also boasts five appearances in 2022/23 for the U.S. U-17 national team. Last year, Barajas secured silverware with Mexico by winning the 2023 CONCACAF U-17 Championship, guiding El Tri to continental glory with three goals and five assists in the regional tourney, later shining in the FIFA U-17 World Cup, tallying one goal and one assist while featuring in all four Mexico contests.

"I'm really excited, especially going from USL to MLS and picking an amazing club like Real Salt Lake, I'm just really excited," said Barajas, just hours before boarding a plane to Utah. "I look at players like Diego Luna and the history of the Club, how RSL brings along young talents and provides them minutes from the first game and open up possibilities to go to Europe. This is the direction I want to go and the pathway I want to take. This is why I think RSL provides the perfect opportunity.

Barajas' MLS move just days ahead of RSL's 20th preseason arrives on the heels of his historic and breakout 2023 campaign, where the 17-year-old professional was named the USL Championship's Young Player of the Year, while also compiling All-League Second Team honors and being featured as one of The Guardian's "Next Generation 2023" in November amongst the top young players in the world.

"So far with my national team, both U.S. and Mexico, it's been, it's been an honor and blessing, something that I think every soccer player dreams of. And not only for me, but for my parents too being Mexicans, I think it brings them a lot of joy to watch me play for them. Playing in the 2026 World Cup, that's another goal I want to accomplish for either national team."

Barajas' banner 2023 season included his spot atop the USL Championship as the USL-C playmaking leader across both the regular season and playoffs, recording 11 assists en route to the Battery's Eastern Conference title. The rising star also scored five goals last year as a three-time USL-C "Team of the Week" honoree, while also securing status as the club's youngest-ever goalscorer (16 years, 11 months, 21 days against Tampa Bay last March 26), matching the Battery's single-season club assist record and being among the youngest in league history with multi-assist or multi-goal games.

"In my first season in MLS I'd love to start getting minutes and just seeing the style of play and how fast the style of play is. Just getting used to all that. Just like how it was getting used to the style of play and speed in USL. I'd love to get used to the League, get used to the players and my teammates and we'll see how I go from there. For this year at RSL, I have a good goal set up to win MLS Newcomer of the Year. Then just start getting minutes and hopefully make it in the starting 11. Being in the starting 11, that's my biggest goal."

All told, Barajas' 18-month Battery tenure was composed of five goals and 13 assists in 37 appearances across all competitions during the last two seasons, after making his professional debut Oct. 1, 2022, when he tallied an assist within minutes of entering his debut match.

"I've been following Diego since before the U-20 World Cup last summer in Argentina. After the U-20 World Cup, his name just became bigger and bigger. I've followed him since he was with El Paso, and watching him grow just gives me more motivation. You can say he's like an idol, showing how he's taken that pathway, and now he's at RSL and so am I. It's perfect, I feel like it just gives me more motivation to be like him and end up in Europe."

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. 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.

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Major League Soccer Stories from January 11, 2024


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