BALTIMORE – As teams around them swapped and haggled with abandon, Real Salt Lake kept it simple on Thursday, and came away from the 2016 SuperDraft feeling content.
RSL waved off several offers for their No. 5 overall pick, then used it on Generation adidas midfielder Omar Holness, who general manager Craig Waibel maintains was their preferred choice among the five players the club's technical staff had identified as their favorites in this year's crop.
“Nobody included us in the fire, but that's fine. We really liked our top five guys, and we knew we'd get one of them. We ended up getting the one we really wanted, so it was great from our perspective,” Waibel told MLSsoccer.com after the dust had settled on a busy afternoon at the Baltimore Convention Center.
“We really had [Holness] targeted, it was a guy we're really interested in helping grow. We think he can help our organization a lot over the course of time, so we're excited.”
A rangy center mid honed at NCAA powerhouse North Carolina and already capped by the Jamaican national team, Holness was visibly thrilled at his selection and adds to a growing contingent of Reggae Boyz on the Wasatch Front. RSL is already home to Jamaica defender Demar Phillips, while retired stars Andy Williams and Tyrone Marshall are assistant coaches.
“I'm feeling pumped. I'm feeling very happy,” said Holness, who was later joined by Notre Dame defender Max Lachowecki, Real's second-round selection. “I'm not as nervous as I was before, that's for sure. But I believe that this experience is one that I've enjoyed. It's the beginning of a new era for me, and I believe that with RSL, I can help them and they can help me as well.”
The 21-year-old added that after meeting with head coach Jeff Cassar and his staff at the Combine, “I looked up the club and I loved everything about Salt Lake.”
Waibel, who said his club will likely continue their adaptation to a 4-3-3 formation this season, sees two possibilities for Holness “in the spine” of Salt Lake's system – though he sounds prepared to guide the rookie along a slow and steady professional learning curve.
“He's a center-channel player, there's no question. In our mind he belongs somewhere in the middle – probably not as much of a [No.] 10 as he is an 8 or a 6, holding or box-to-box,” said Waibel. “It's a matter of his maturity and how we coach him, and the roles we put him in and where does he succeed the best over the next year, two years, three years.”
Should Holness find his feet more quickly than that, it might well lead to international absences as Jamaica try to advance in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying. But that's a problem Waibel will be glad to have.
“Young players need games, they need minutes, they need high-pressure situations. It's fantastic,” he said. “At a point where he becomes a player that we're relying on game in, game out, there's a balance.
“But that's my job. That's my job to balance the roster ... Over the course of time, we've got to make sure that a succession plan for our club involves making sure we're not being decimated by international windows.”
- Find more Salt Lake news and notes at RSL.com
Waibel also tamped down media reports of an imminent loan exit for striker Sebastian Jaime. The Argentine Designated Player has been linked to Chilean side Universidad Catolica, but the GM says Jaime remains in RSL's plans.
“Social media is telling me that I did something that apparently I haven't heard about yet,” cracked Waibel. “It's news to me. I'm seeing it the same way you are. I haven't gotten a phone call yet.
“I don't eliminate anyone from my thought process. I can assure you as of this second right now, he's not gone anywhere.”
