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Sandy • Nearly 18 months after Real Salt Lake completed a seven-figure transfer fee to acquire Argentine striker Sebastian Jaime, the 28-year-old is returning to play professionally in Chile.
The club announced Thursday that it mutually parted ways with Jaime, who simultaneously completed a much-rumored move to Universidad Católica in the Chilean league on a 1-year contract.
In 26 career appearances at RSL, the former Designated Player scored five goals. On Thursday, RSL general manager Craig Waibel said when the club re-acquired former forward Yura Movsisyan on loan from Spartak Moscow last week, conversations ensued with each one of the players affected most by Movsisyan's arrival, Jaime foremost among them.
"With the addition of Yura," Waibel said, "it looked like it was kind of the direction it might head."
RSL moved Jaime from the wide-forward role that he was acquired to fulfill to the central striker role in the club's 4-3-3 formation. Waibel said in his discussions with Jaime and his representation the past 24 hours, it became clearer that at this point in his career, Jaime was interested in being a full-time starter. With the move for Movsisyan complete, Jaime's minutes at RSL would've dipped in 2016.
"Through discussions with Sebastian, it made sense for us to part ways and give him the opportunity to play," Waibel said.
Rumors of Jaime's move to Chile surfaced within the past month. Waibel said anything reported the past few weeks "had no validity." The deal to part ways with Jaime began Wednesday afternoon around 3:30 p.m. and by noon Thursday, all parties came to an agreement.
Asked if Jaime and his representatives were the first to bring up the potential move, Waibel said it was a mutual process the entire way.
"It's not like Sebastian desperately wanted to go anywhere and it's not like we desperately wanted to move him," he said. "It simply was if there was a good spot for him to go and that he was interested in, we would certainly accommodate his desire."
Jaime's first goal at RSL came nine months after his arrival. He scored the opening goal against Sporting Kansas City at home in a 2-1 win on June 21. From there, he helped carry the RSL offense in the summer after it dealt all-time leading scorer Alvaro Saborio to D.C. United in July. Jaime scored five goals in 17 starts in 2015.
"Coming here, I was received well, which translated [because] everyone treated me well," Jaime said in July. "Now I feel like I have confidence and I'm giving the fans and coaches what they were looking for in what they were seeing in me before."
Twitter: @chriskamrani —
Sebastian Jaime
Position » Forward
MLS hello » Acquired as a designated player by RSL on Aug. 8, 2014
MLS goodbye » Mutually agreed to part ways with RSL on Jan. 21, 2016
Hometown » La Plata, Argentina
Career path » Cambareres (2008-09), Argentinos Juniors (2009-10), Union Española (2011-14), Real Salt Lake (2014-16)
Statistics » Scored five goals in 26 career appearances at RSL between 2014-15; scored 39 goals in 124 league appearances with Union Española in three seasons