RSL Linked to Robert Bozenik

Written April 9th 2025

Tom Bogert Announces RSL Targets Slovakian Striker Robert Bozenik

Today it was announced that RSL is targeting a Slovakian striker from Boavista named Robert Bozenik. He is 25 years old and is has scored 4 goals this season in the Portuguese top flight. His club, Boavista are in dead last in the division. Because the european transfer window is closed Boavista will not be able to replace him until the window reopens. I think the only reason we can make this happen is because their relegation is nearly guaranteed so there's no real need to replace him when games don't matter. Last season Boavista did a little better and Bozenik scored 11 goals. He also has 7 goals in 49 caps with the Slovakian national team. I wonder if he'll reach out to ex RSL attacker Albert Rusnak to see how he liked Utah.

Timeline of the Striker Search

Fans found out we had lost both Chicho Arango and Anderson Julio by January 16th. It took until April 11th to get linked to our first DP striker. What were we doing? I understand we went for White, and Farrington earlier but their price tags were too high. I think that's obviously going to happen when you try to make trades after the international market closes. So I think the front office's delay has caused us to drop out of the CCL and drop some early points. Am I being too harsh? Let's look into the timeline.

December 16th: We made two trades that ended up swapping Anderson Julio and Elias Manoel. On paper that looks great, but in reality Elias never came to preseason and the fact the front office signed someone who didn't want to be here is a disaster.

January 4th: I heard a rumor for the first time that Chicho wanted to leave, at the time this was just something that a colleague had heard. But it ended up being true. So on January 4th the front office knew that both our DP striker and our new backup striker were not going to be playing for Real Salt Lake this season. 

January 15th: Chicho Arango is traded to the San Jose Earthquakes

January 20th: Real Salt Lake signs Ariath Piol. I'm willing to count this signing as an Anderson Julio replacement. 

80 days pass.....

April 9th: Real Salt Lake is linked with Robert Bozenik over 100 days after the club knew Chicho Arango wanted to leave.

How did the Front Office Handle the Striker Search?

They failed. No excuses, they didn't have a Chicho replacement lined up. They failed to sign a stop gap striker for 100 days. It has cost us points, and the CCL. Not to mention the fact that waiting to sign replacements after international windows close raises prices and makes it harder to sign anyone! Not sure exactly who to put the blame on but Kurt Schmid probably takes the brunt of it. As always, when I give critiques I like to pair it with something positive. He crushed the Rafael Cabral signing, and I'm hopeful that Tyler Wolff, and Ariath Piol will be decent signings.

https://www.givemesport.com/real-salt-lake-advanced-talks-transfer-dp-forward-sources/