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Sandy • For the heaps of hype, praise and criticism hurled toward Luis Gil in his first six professional seasons, what the 21-year-old has yet to experience yet is being out of contract. His deal at Real Salt Lake, where he was first acquired at the age 16 in 2010, expires later this year.

"He's 21-years-old and there's a 1,000 decisions to be made," RSL technical director Craig Waibel told the Tribune. "If he wants it to be simply a money decision, he goes one way, if he wants it to be a positional decision, he goes another way, if he wants it to be a lifestyle decision, he goes another way."

Waibel said RSL and Gil's representatives are currently discussing a possible extension for the midfielder to stay at RSL beyond 2015.

"He has options and we've given him an option to re-sign here," Waibel said. "We're in the midst of going through that. He's evaluating where he is. There's no hard feelings. Everything is on the table on both sides. It's very healthy."

The Tribune caught up with Gil on Tuesday to discuss what the future holds for the talented midfielder. The Southern California native described this season, where he's been in and out of the starting lineup, so far as "a rollercoaster."

"I'm just focusing on the time that I do have now, whether it's a few more months or a few more years, whatever it is," Gil said. "I'm still under contract with RSL, so this is what I've got to do."

Gil said he doesn't think about his contract at RSL ending this season and says he still has to focus on his time and duties with his club. In 2015, Gil has started in 14 out of a possible 22 league matches, seeing time in 20 matches total. He's yet to score a goal this year and has one assist.

Since entering the league, Gil has shouldered the sky-high expectations from the media and fans of American soccer and RSL as potentially a superstar in the making.

"I don't care what people say when it comes to that stuff," he said. "I'm doing my thing. I've still got a lot to learn as a player. Some players develop faster than others, some players have one great year, some have three bad years … obviously I've had my ups-and-downs. I've dealt with them and I've just got to get through them."

After 130 league appearances and 87 starts in the last five seasons, Gil said he remains entrenched in a learning process as a player, admitting he hasn't yet solved his own puzzle. It wasn't until the 2013 season — where Gil had a career-high 24 starts and 30 appearances along with five goals — that he officially started feeling comfortable on the field.

Asked if he has an ideal next step or scenario in his mind, either at RSL or elsewhere, Gil said doesn't focus on the future. He'd rather focus on improvement.

"Like I said, every player's different," he said. "Some break out when they're 20-years-old, some at the average age when they're at 26 or 27 when they really break out. To me, I'm still searching to get there. When that year comes, I'm going to take advantage of it."

Waibel said the club will support Gil's decision, regardless of the outcome.

"We've got his back," he said. "We've already explained to him that whatever decision he makes, we're going to support him as a club, and if it's here, that's awesome, if it's not here, it's not awesome for us, but for a kid who's given as much as he's given to us, we're going to support him."

Waibel has taken the pragmatic approach with Gil, understanding the circumstances that he's a tenured young player, but one that is currently in different situation.

"A player going out of contract is going to do two things: They're going look over their shoulder and over the fence," Waibel added. "And I think when you're 21 and going out of contract for the first time, you're doing both at the same time, and sometimes it's hard to limit the moment.

"We've seen more up-and-down from him this year than we've seen in year's past. Unfortunately, I think that's what people remember most right now, is not the consistency of what he was, but they're seeing him on a day-to-day basis and just looking in the vacuum of today."

-Chris Kamrani

Twitter: @chriskamrani