The Offseason So Far: Keeping it in the family and taking care of business. RSL got their own Homegrown winger Brooks Lennon fulltime from Liverpool, and then signed Homegrown right back Aaron Herrera, while promoting RB/CB Taylor Peay from their USL reserve team. It also looks like deals for Kyle Beckerman and Nick Rimando – both legends are free agents – are close to done.

This is real stability, and given how good RSL looked during the second half of last season, why change? Stability is an asset.

In theory so is Yura Movsisyan, but the Armenian international DP forward is clearly not in Mike Petke's plans, and that brings us to the biggest issue surrounding RSL this winter: How will they resolve the Yura situation? He understandably wants to play, and understandably wants as much of his not-inconsiderable contract as is possible. RSL are willing/happy/eager to move him, but teams aren't exactly lining up for a 30-year-old striker on nearly $2 million per year who spent most last season as a backup and has never had a double-digit scoring year in MLS.

From the outside looking in, it's a game of chicken. No idea who blinks first, or when.

And that leaves RSL in a bit of a bind. Their DP slots are spoken for, they still need depth in defense and central midfield, and that means they can't go out and buy their way out of their center forward issue.

EDIT: One of those DP slots is occupied by Jefferson Savarino, who RSL purchased outright this autumn. I'd mistakenly thought they had exercised that option in the summer.

So... yeah. It's been a productive offseason already in Utah.

JAN. 2 UPDATE: They're in a tug-of-war with Bayern Munich for RSL academy product Taylor Booth, it seems. I expect we all know how that will play out. I also expect to see Spanish No. 9 Alfredo Ortuño in Claret-and-Cobalt soon, probably as a TAM-level player. And that certainly means they're lighting a fire under Movsisyan with an eye toward showing him the door. I still have no idea how that will play out. No news yet on either Beckerman or Rimando, by the way. Given their respective ages it's hard to imagine that they'd command much on the free agent market, but given their standing and history with the club, it's entirely possible that each will be able to get more than the going rate if they stay home. No Dirk Nowitzki discounts here.