Yura Movsisyan Returns to Real Salt Lake

SALT LAKE CITY –Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer (MLS) announced on Friday the addition of Armenian international Yura Movsisyan as a designated player on loan from Russian club Spartak Moscow, pending receipt of his International Transfer Certificate, affirming speculation that he would make a return to the club where he played from 2007-09 before moving overseas to play in Denmark and Russia.

“For me, it’s been a long time I’ve been wanting to come back,” said Movsisyan in a team statement. “Obviously Salt Lake was my first choice because it was such a great place for me and my family. I felt at home in Utah. Leaving with a championship – I want to come back and do that again.

“I want to win more championships with Salt Lake – with the club that I was part of the evolution. I was part of the team that went basically from the bottom to being champions. This is what I want to do again and what I’m excited about. For me, it’s an amazing thing to come back.”

Movsisyan thanked FC Spartak Moscow and their fans on his Facebook account. “My sincere thanks to FC Spartak Moscow and all the loyal fans for their continued support”.

The addition of the 28-year-old forward, the Russian Premier League’s co-leader in goals scored during the 2012-13 season with Spartak, brings a proven goalscorer to a club on the search for more production from its forward corps. RSL were the second-lowest scoring team in the league in 2015, with an average of 1.12 goals per game.

After starting his professional career with Sporting Kansas City, who selected him with the fourth-overall pick in the 2006 SuperDraft out of Pasadena City College, Movsisyan helped RSL to their first and to date only MLS Cup in 2009. He scored 15 goals and recorded three assists in 48 regular-season appearances with RSL.

Following the MLS Cup win Movsisyan signed with Danish team Randers, where he scored 12 goals over 30 matches in a calendar year before moving on to Russia.

Since moving to the Russian Premier League, he scored 23 goals in 50 league appearances with Krasnodar and has 25 goals in four years with Spartak.