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RSL defender Justen Glad signs contract extension

The Homegrown center back is now under contract through 2026.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Real Salt Lake defender Justen Glad (15) as Real Salt Lake hosts San Jose Earthquakes on Oct. 30, 2021.

Real Salt Lake has agreed to a contract extension for center back Justen Glad.

The deal will keep the 26-year-old defender in Salt Lake through 2026, with a team option for the 2027 season.

“While it’s hard to believe I’ve been in Utah for 10 years, there is still so, so much more to accomplish,” Glad said in a statement. “It’s been a dream come true to rise through the ranks of RSL from the Academy to where I am now. It’s been an absolute pleasure learning from all the RSL legends and making lifelong friends here with this club. But we are here to win trophies, and that’s the ultimate goal.”

Glad, the longest-tenured player on RSL’s roster, has appeared in 212 regular season matches for the club.

“The club is elated to further secure the services of Justen Glad for several more seasons to come,” Real Salt Lake General Manager Elliot Fall said in a news release. “In addition to his years of exemplary service to the Utah soccer community both in and off the field, Glad’s decade with RSL serves as a template for what our Academy players should aspire to follow.”

This season, the defender has contributed a career-high five goals, including a game-winner last week against Vancouver.

RSL (43 points) sits in fifth in the West with four games to go before the playoffs begin.

“We’ve had some deep runs the last few years, and I’m expecting another deep MLS run this year,” Glad’s statement continued. “I believe in this club, I believe in this group; our locker room culture under [manager Pablo Mastroeni] and his staff is outstanding, and we are firmly focused on hosting playoff games at home before our amazing fans, not just this year, but for many many years to come.”

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RSL at LAFC

Sunday, Oct. 1

6 p.m.

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