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Craig Waibel and Jeff Cassar are back stateside after spending the Thanksgiving holiday in Argentina scouting players. Real Salt Lake's general manager and head coach traveled to South America last Tuesday and returned Sunday morning, spending most of their trip watching players and chatting with South American-based agents, who represent players in Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Argentina.

"It was a very, very busy trip," Waibel said. "We were on the ground for four days and had about 12 hours to ourselves. The rest of the time was spent with agents or at games or practices or at facilities. There's a lot going on."

While there, Waibel and Cassar had lunch with RSL's Argentine trio of Javier Morales, Burrito Martinez and Sebastian Jaime, all of whom are back home during this offseason.

The reports of a possible winter-time loan of Martinez, whom RSL signed as a Designated Player in August after two years at Boca Juniors, was a topic broached at the table. Waibel said Argentine club San Lorenzo has reached out to Martinez directly regarding the possibility of a short loan, but said the club has yet to contact him.

"It's safe to say there is a genuine interest from San Lorenzo to bring him in on loan, but I don't think it's something we're interested in," Waibel said. "I talked to Juan about it. A little bit of down time isn't the worst thing. He's 30-years-old, and he needs to recover properly. We need him, and we need him from the beginning of the year."

More movement on Movsisyan? • The day RSL announced it had re-signed Morales to a multi-year contract, Waibel said in an interview on ESPN700 that the club remains very interested in bringing back former RSL forward Yura Movsisyan. The 28-year-old reportedly could be available this offseason from Russian club Spartak Moscow.

Movsisyan's agent, Patrick McCabe, told the Tribune this week there have been talks, adding that Waibel is trying to make a possible move work.

"We have had some discussion regarding Yura coming to RSL," he said. "We are hopeful that an agreement can be reached but it is too early to say at this point."

"I think that's very accurate," Waibel said.

RSL owns Movsisyan's MLS rights after he left the club in 2010 to move to Danish club Randers before moving onto playing in the Russian Premier League.

The Verb will return • RSL announced Monday that it had re-signed Colombian center back Jamison Olave, who turns 35 in April. The move was a head-scratcher to some fans, but a necessary Waibel said due to the club's current state of affairs in central defense.

"We're looking to strengthen the center back core, not just maintain it," Waibel said.

With the oft-injured Chris Schuler — who also happens to be out-of-contract — still recovering from foot surgery, retaining Olave was a move Waibel felt as the starting point of building depth at the position. Waibel did add that re-signing Schuler remains a priority, but keeping Olave was "almost essential given that he's healthy." RSL now has just three center backs on the roster.

"Jamison finished the year quite well," Waibel said. "I think when he got traded, I think his mentality was quite possibly a little bit weaker than it needed to be, and he and I chatted about that mid-season. I do think he adjusted, and at the end of the season, really started to contribute in a much better way."

Asked if Olave, who started 22 matches in 2015, will be penciled in as a starter in preseason, Waibel said simply, "He adds to our depth at center back."

And everything else in-between … • Waibel said RSL remains in talks with its other two out-of-contract players: Midfielders Luis Gil and Luis Silva. With the official start of the MLS offseason underway a day after the MLS Cup final (That's on Sunday), Waibel said he expects there to be a flurry of talks and possibly moves right out of the gate.

There hasn't been a day since RSL's season started, he said, that he hasn't spent at least six hours on the phone.

"Everyone wants to get the better end of a deal," he said. "Everybody's trying to make a huge, positive impact. As we get closer to season, I think there's a lot of peripheral posturing. And why not? There's still two months until people check in."

So is he bracing for a jam-packed offseason?

"That'll be just fine with me," Waibel said. "I'd rather have the first one be crazy and then settle down after that."

-Chris Kamrani

Twitter: @chriskamrani