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The fifth major trade in a season filled with sudden deals proved to be a transaction that would forever alter the landscape of Real Salt Lake. On July 16, 2007, RSL traded former No. 2 overall pick Mehdi Ballouchy to the Colorado Rapids in exchange for a somewhat-dreadlocked midfielder in Kyle Beckerman.

Behind the deal was Jason Kreis, who three months prior suddenly retired to become the head coach at RSL at age 34. In retrospect, the trade is now looked upon as one of the more-lopsided deals in the history of Major League Soccer.

Beckerman instantly became the face of the franchise, the captain, and who Kreis predicated the club's patented diamond midfield formation around. RSL went on to win an MLS Cup with Beckerman and the host of other players brought in during the wheeling-and-dealing days of 2006 through 2008. Nearly eight years after the trade, Beckerman is still in that same spot, leading the club to continue its charge toward an eighth-consecutive MLS Cup postseason appearance.

The trade, however, set Ballouchy on a markedly different path. After playing 46 games in a year and a half at RSL, Ballouchy became hampered with injuries in stop after stop, but now the 32-year-old Moroccan international is thriving, and of all places, under Kreis at expansion side New York City FC.

Now with his sixth team during his 10th year in MLS, Ballouchy has become a threat in the NYCFC midfield. He leads the team in goals scored with three in eight games played in 2015, starting seven of the club's first 11 matches. He's one of six former RSL players under Kreis in New York.

"It's always going to be heartening to me to see guys that can kind of have a turnaround in their career based on how badly they want it and how hard they're willing to work for it," Kreis said, "and Mehdi's career problems have all come down to injury. Injuries and the fact that he's a little bit different type player that not every team appreciates."

After spending four years with the Rapids, Ballouchy was traded to the New York Red Bulls in 2010. He spent two seasons there before being dealt to the San Jose Earthquakes, but suffered an ACL tear early in 2012 that sidelined him for nearly a year.

The Vancouver Whitecaps selected Ballouchy in the 2013 MLS Re-Entry Draft in Dec. 2013. Between 2012 and 2014 in San Jose and Vancouver, he made a combined 22 appearances. When Kreis and the NYCFC staff were piecing together their inaugural roster during the 2014 Expansion Draft, Ballouchy's name was on the board.

They took a flyer on him with the 12th pick.

"I don't take any particular pride that it's because he's with me again, nor anything like that," Kreis said. "I'm just happy for him, as I would be for any player that goes through the difficulties that he has and is making a bit of a resurrection for himself. It's always pleasing for me to see that people who work hard can be successful."

Former RSL defender Chris Wingert said Ballouchy has been an example to NYCFC despite the rough start early on.

"He's an incredibly hard worker, he came in really fit and he's so sharp every day in practice," Wingert said. "It's not surprising at all that he's doing well and scoring goals for us … I think Mehdi is just a great fit. I think the staff deserves some credit for that, too. To recognize that they still thought he could be a really valuable part of this team it's a credit to them and a credit to him. He's been all that and more."

-Chris Kamrani

Twitter: @chriskamrani