"This is the guy we wanted," general manager Garth Lagerwey said.

The fleet 29-year-old is expected to join the team on a free transfer today, and will be available for RSL's next league game against Toronto FC on Monday. He's able to play any position in the midfield or on the back line, Lagerwey said, allowing RSL to pursue an attacking player before the league transfer window closes next month.

"We had to strengthen our depth in the midfield to allow us the freedom to do what we wanted" with the team's other open roster spot, Lagerwey said. RSL had lost midfielders Carey Talley and Matias Cordoba recently, Talley in a trade to Chivas USA and the seldom-used Cordoba to his request to return home to Argentina.

Russell was one of the recent trialists whose identity RSL kept secret, out of a fear that league rivals would torpedo its attempts to land him.

According to league allocation rules and its low position on the allocation list, RSL needed 12 other teams to pass on Russell before it could claim him. Had another team known the depth of RSL's interest, it could have claimed Russell first and tried to force RSL to give something up in a trade for him.

Instead, RSL picked up a player that Lagerwey said will be the fastest on the team, having bettered striker Robbie Findley's best time in the 40-yard dash during his tryout. He will "immediately add strength to our team core," coach Jason Kreis said. "We couldn't be happier to finally have this deal done."

Born in Ghana, Russell lived all over the world as a child because his father was an American humanitarian-aid worker - his wife has a home in Park City, Lagerwey said - and played collegiately at Duke, the same school for which Lagerwey and Kreis played.

Russell played a year at Breioablik in Iceland before the Los Angeles Galaxy drafted him 22nd in the 2001 MLS SuperDraft, but he rejected the league's contract offer and returned to Scandanavia, playing with Sogndal I.L. and Rosenborg B.K. in Norway before moving to Viborg.

His versatility could help a lot.

RSL remains in first place in the MLS Western Conference standings at 6-6-6, but has only a dozen games remaining, with five teams within five points behind them. Six of their eight games after Toronto will be played on the road, too, where RSL has managed only four goals and four points so far this season.

mcl@sltrib.com