Alvaro Saborio scouting report: RSL Soapbox gives us the info

With the big trade between D.C. United and Real Salt Lake, we reached out to our friends at RSL Soapbox to give us a scouting report on the new United striker. Matt Montgomery was kind enough to give us the lowdown.

Alvaro Saborio has been an important player for Real Salt Lake since 2010. That importance, however, was diminished two consecutive seasons with only 16 appearances, despite reasonable but not outstanding goalscoring records in both of those — 8 in 2014 and 12 in 2013.

An internal discipline issue that arose after he missed a flight back to Salt Lake City from Costa Rica may have spelled the end of his time at the club, but there are plenty of on-field reasons why the move makes sense, too.

After all, Saborio was one of five first-team forwards at the club, and with 2014 signee Sebastian Jaime finally finding goalscoring form, Joao Plata returning from injury, and Olmes Garcia and Devon Sandoval's development continuing well, it might be the case that Real Salt Lake is re-shaping the team.

With RSL — as ever — right up against the edge of the salary cap, a move for a cheaper player made sense from a team perspective, too.

D.C. United is getting a talented striker — although primarily a hold-up forward at Real Salt Lake, his goalscoring record wasn't accidental. Still, he's more comfortable and, indeed, productive when he's asked to do less. He'll get back and defend at times, but don't expect him to apply much hard pressure from the front. He can also cut a frustrated figure at times; even when he was scoring goals and playing consistently, he had that sulky look to him. It was part of his charm, I think.