Real Salt Lake is bolstering its attack.
RSL added Botafogo striker Rwan Cruz to its ranks on Friday. The deal is an 18-month loan with a club option to buy the 24-year-old Brazilian.
Cruz will take one of RSL’s designated player spots.
“I am excited to arrive in Utah and I look forward to integrating with the family here at the club,” Cruz said in a news release. “... Everything happens for a reason and I believe it is of great significance at the right time for me to be in Utah. I am very happy.”
RSL has started to find its footing of late, losing just once over six games in July. However, the team remains 25th in goals scored in the league and has been desperately searching for firepower.
Salt Lake added 20-year-old U.S. Youth National Team forward Marcos Zambrano on Thursday and followed that up a day later by acquiring the 6-foot-2 Cruz from Brazil’s top league.
“I have been watching the RSL games and I think we play very well as a team,” he said. “We have a playing style with short passing combinations that I enjoy very much, and I believe this is an excellent fit for me.”
(Bruna Prado | AP) Rwan Cruz of Brazil's Botafogo, center, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal against Argentina's Estudiantes de La Plata during a Copa Libertadores match in Rio de Janeiro on May 14, 2025. Cruz has moved to Real Salt Lake on an 18-month loan deal that gives RSL the option to buy him later.
Cruz scored 24 goals in 18 months at Ludogorets Razgrad in Bulgaria before returning to Brazil in February. At Botafogo, he scored goals in Copa Libertadores and Copa do Brasil.
Botafogo spent $10 million on Cruz’s transfer last winter. RSL’s option to buy is a reported $5 million fee.
“We are elated to welcome Rwan to our Club, and have been working on this move for some time,” RSL’s Chief Soccer Officer Kurt Schmid said in a release. “Rwan’s quality, finishing and attacking flexibility should allow him to bolster our options up top, adding a difference-maker to our core as we pursue a strong finish to the season.”
Cruz will wear No. 12 for RSL.
“The fans are our 12th player and we depend a lot on them,” Cruz said. “The energy that comes from them motivates us; they are important each and every game. I have felt and seen the atmosphere in the stadium for both the San Jose and Club América games, it was influential in our ability to turn these games around. Again, the fans are very important to us and they can expect me to bring competitiveness every moment I am on the pitch, and I am arriving to add to and strengthen the group by scoring many goals and assists.”