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Real Salt Lake re-signed defenders Demar Phillips and Phanuel Kavita, the club announced Thursday. Both Phillips, a 32-year-old Jamaican left back, and Kavita, the 22-year-old Highland High product, had their 2016 club options initially not exercised on Nov. 30.
But both will be back with RSL this season.
Phillips started 16 league matches last year, appearing in 18 total. The Jamaican national team defender was initially signed to be the full-time replace of former left back Chris Wingert, who was taken by New York City FC in the 2014 MLS Expansion Draft. But injuries, inconsistent play and national-team duty kept Phillips from having the impact the club envisioned when it signed him last January.
"We had great conversations with Demar and the maturity he showed really impressed us," RSL general manager Craig Waibel said in a club release. "He was really frustrated with the season he had and we wanted to make sure we are on the same page. It makes it easy to bring a guy like that back."
Phillips also had five starts in the CONCACAF Champions League group stage as well as the U.S. Open Cup.
RSL signed Kavita, a four-year starter at Clemson, as as Homegrown player prior to last season. He made his MLS debut in a 2-2 draw against the Columbus Crew last June. In total, he made three appearances for RSL in 2015 and saw time in 18 matches for the club's USL affiliate, Real Monarchs.
"He's a good young player and a fantastic human being," Waibel said. "He's driven to prove the people who have supported him his whole life right and he's driven to make this work."
Re-signing Phillips and Kavita brings RSL's current roster number up to 24 first-team players signed. In late November, RSL re-signed longtime midfielder Javier Morales and later center back Jamison Olave. That leaves RSL with just four remaining first-team spots before hitting the roster maximum of 28. With the club holding the No. 5 pick in next Thursday's 2016 MLS SuperDraft, it's likely RSL gets closer to hitting its roster limit.
Re-signing Kavita puts RSL's Homegrown or former Homegrown player count up to seven.
Upgrading the defense has been mentioned as a key component to the success of RSL's offseason. But RSL has since retained most of the back line that struggled immensely in 2015. RSL conceded 48 goals in 34 games, the most goals allowed in a season since 2006. In October, Waibel told the Tribune, "Without a doubt, our back line will play a heavy focus in what we're trying to get done this offseason."
Time remains for additions, but players report for entrance physicals and the start of preseason in two weeks. And the first leg of CONCACAF Champions League at Tigres, is just six weeks away.
Just an update on who's in and who's out on RSL's roster from 2015:
In:
» Defender Danilo Acosta, 18-year-old Homegrown defender/midfielder.
Out:
» Luis Gil, longtime midfielder signed with Mexican club Queretaro F.C. on a free transfer.
» Luis Silva, signed with Tigres UANL, who RSL faces in the Champions League quarterfinal.
» Elias Vasquez, club declined option on Guatemalan center back.
» Pecka, club declined option on Brazilian midfielder.
» Chris Schuler, talented, but injury-prone center back is out-of-contract at RSL.
Re-signed:
» Javier Morales, club's long-shining midfield creator was re-signed in late November.
» Jamison Olave, center back who turns 35 was retained after an up-and-down year in 2015.
» Demar Phillips, left back re-signed after appearing in just 18 regular-season matches a year ago.
» Phanuel Kavita, Highland High and RSL-Arizona academy product saw time in 18 Monarchs matches in 2015.
Also on Thursday, Major League Soccer announced the signing of five NCAA underclassmen to 2016 Generation adidas contracts: Josh Yaro (Georgetown), Andrew Tarbell (Clemson), Julian Buescher (Syracuse), Jack Harrison (Wake Forest), Richie Laryea (Akron). Generation adidas players drafted do not count against an MLS team's salary budget.
MLS also announced the signing of Stanford standout left back Brandon Vincent. The 2015 first-team All-American co-captained the Cardinal en route to the team's NCAA 2015 title.
-Chris Kamrani
Twitter: @chriskamrani