Real Salt Lake: ‘Burrito’ Martinez said decision to come to RSL ‘was easy for me’

Sandy • Within an hour, Real Salt Lake's newest Designated Player hopped from scrum to scrum — seven in all — in English, then Spanish and back to English twice more. Throughout this hour of dissecting why Juan Manuel Martinez decided to leave Argentina and finalize his much-hyped move to Major League Soccer, the 29-year-old forward wasn't fazed.

He was comfortable, evidenced by the sandals he wore, complete with a new pair of RSL socks.

"El Burrito" spent two seasons at one of largest, most successful clubs in global soccer at Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires. But when the two sides decided to mutually part ways this summer, his options weren't lacking.

"Too many," to choose from, Martinez said.

And Craig Waibel knew it. RSL's approach to pursuing and signing players hasn't changed under Waibel, the club's first-year technical director. The fit in the locker room, he says, is as important as the quality on the field.

"When you start talking about Salt Lake, of people that fit that mold, there's a reason that we focused on him and he focused on us," Waibel said.

After months of discussions before finally coming to terms on a contract, Martinez is here. Less than 36 hours after arriving in Salt Lake City for the first time, he was on the bench to experience RSL's 2-0 win over Seattle on Saturday.

He's already attached himself to the hip of the club's other Argentines, Javier Morales and Sebastian Jaime, to hasten the transition. Martinez said he talks to both players multiple times a day as life in Utah slowly comes into focus.

On Monday afternoon, he went house-hunting. In the next two weeks, he hopes his wife and two children — a 4-year-old daughter and 18-month-old son — to arrive, solidifying the move.

"I like the country, the city, the way you live here," he said. "The league is growing up very fast and I want to play here. This was easy for me to take the decision."

It just took longer than expected.

For Martinez to keep his name in the national team conversation, playing at Boca Juniors was a no-brainer. In 58 appearances at Boca, he scored 10 goals. In 2011 and 2012, Martinez made four appearances with Argentina, scoring against Brazil in a 2012 friendly.

In one of his first caps for Argentina, he drew an 89th-minute penalty in a friendly against Portugal; Lionel Messi buried it. Martinez and Messi were jointly named Argentina's 2010 Football Players of the Year.

"I always think to come [to MLS], but in the past, I have a chance to play in the national team, with Messi, it was wonderful," he said. "I played qualifiers with Argentina from the last World Cup, so I had a little chance to play in the World Cup, so that's why I stayed at Boca Juniors."

Before conversations with RSL opened, Martinez said he started watching MLS matches while living in Argentina. Along with being on the bench Saturday, he's watched three RSL games. How quickly he can blend in with his new teammates?

"Fast as possible," he said.

"It's a different style of soccer than most places in the world [in MLS]," Waibel added. "It's more athletic, it's a little bigger — probably a little more physical, it's safe to say. But the quality of the club you come from usually represents what you can add, and Juan's resume, his playing experience, it's vast and it's really proven."

On paper, Martinez could follow in the line of the shrewd signings RSL's made in the past decade. He's already endearing himself to the fan base with lines like this:

"I don't know New York or L.A.," he said, "but I prefer a small city."

ckamrani@sltrib.com

Twitter: @ckramrani