This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Real Salt Lake is indeed getting younger.

A week after the controversial exit of midfield star Javier Morales, another aging RSL staple took to Twitter to announce he won't be back at the club in 2017. Center back Jamison Olave noted that his second stint at the club is officially over. The 35-year-old Colombian, who was an MLS All-Star and MLS Defender of the Year in his first go at with RSL, started 16 regular-season matches in 2016.

"After 7 years playing and defending the RSL jersey, my cycle as a player with RSL ended," Olave wrote. "Thank you to the fans for all the support during all this time, to my teammates for making history together and for giving their best in the field to make RSL BIG.

Thank you to RSL for letting me enjoy a great city and great Team."

Olave returned to RSL in the 2014 offseason after being initially dealt away in 2012 to the New York Red Bulls. After two seasons in New York, RSL reacquired Olave just days after trading away his former center back partner, Nat Borchers, to the Portland Timbers prior to the 2014 MLS Expansion Draft.

In his last two seasons at RSL, Olave started a combined 38 regular-season matches, notching three goals and one assist in over 3,200 minutes logged. Olave entered the 2016 campaign as a starter alongside Aaron Maund, but saw young, promising center back Justen Glad take over his starting role on the back line early in the year.

Glad and Olave eventually became the starting pair when Maund suffered a season-ending foot fracture in early August. But Olave's role was eventually taken late in the season by Chris Schuler, who re-signed with RSL in August after spending most of the year with the club's USL affiliate, Real Monarchs. Schuler started RSL's last two matches at Seattle and the first-round playoff loss at L.A.

During his meeting with the media two weeks ago, RSL general manager Craig Waibel said negotiations about extending Glad were already underway. Ditto for Maund, who Waibel confirmed is currently out-of-contract, but seems likely to stay at RSL after another solid season.

In his first five seasons at RSL, Olave was widely-regarded as one of the premier defenders in Major League Soccer. His blend of size and speed made his pairing with Borchers one of the best in MLS for several years. Olave started in RSL's 2009 MLS Cup final victory and played a massive role in RSL's march to the 2011 CONCACAF Champions League final. Arguably his most memorable individual performance at RSL was his road goal against Costa Rican powerhouse Saprissa in the Champions League semifinal that punched RSL's ticket to the final round.

In nine seasons in MLS, Olave has made 212 starts between RSL and the Red Bulls. In addition, Olave's made 18 MLS Cup postseason starts at center back.

"We are very thankful for Olave's years of excellent service to RSL, and we look forward to either supporting him in the continuation of his playing career elsewhere or helping him with a possible shift to a non-playing role in our ever-growing and expanding organization," said RSL spokesman Trey Fitz-Gerald.

-Chris Kamrani

Twitter: @chriskamrani