MLS Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake Sign 25-Year-Old Left Back Alexandros Katranis

February 2, 2024 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


LAGOS, PORTUGAL - Real Salt Lake interim Chief Soccer Officer / Sporting Director Kurt Schmid today announced the arrival of 25-year-old defender Alexandros Katranis, the former Greece youth international transferring from Polish side Piast Galwice, his home since Summer 2021. Pending receipt of both a P-1 visa and his International Transfer Certificate (ITC), Katranis is signed through the 2025 MLS season, with Club options for 2026 and 2027.

"Alex will provide guile, speed and skill on our left side, also giving us depth as we look to compete in 45-50 games this year across all competitions," said Schmid, arriving in Portugal today ahead of three matches as part of RSL's Atlantic Cup competition against Brøndby IF (Denmark), Fredrikstad (Norway) and Klaksvik (Faroe Islands). "Katranis will compete immediately, bringing with him experience at various levels in Europe. We are excited to see how quickly he can integrate with our Club and succeed in a new chapter of his career."

Katranis was owned by French club Saint-Etienne from August 2017 until his move to Poland, playing 73 games on loan with clubs in Belgium, Greece and Turkey in that four-year span. Forty of those games were played at Greek side Atromitos, Katranis' boyhood club, with whom he signed his first professional contract in the summer of 2016, just after his 18th birthday.

All told, the 25-year-old - born May 4, 1998 in Volos, Greece, with his new RSL jersey number reflecting his birth year, as he has worn 98 with Piast Gilwice as well - arrives on the Wasatch Front with 168 professional appearances in addition to his 31 caps with the Greece U17, U19 and U21 youth national teams from 2013-21.

"From the first moment I found out that there was a possibility to participate in such a big league like MLS, with globally-recognized teams and players, I really was more than excited," said Katranis, en route to join the team in Portugal for the final week of its preseason trip to the Iberian peninsula. "Also, the manner in which the entire RSL organization approached me during this negotiation period was amazing. So that made the decision very easy. I am also very happy that in the next few days I will get to know the coaches and team staff, and I will be able to train with my new teammates."

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.

Find the complete 2024 Real Salt Lake preseason roster here.

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.

Check out the Real Salt Lake Statistics



Major League Soccer Stories from February 2, 2024


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