The 21-year-old Colombian winger is now set for a departure to pastures anew in Rennes - in the northwest of France - in another record-breaking sale for the Claret-and-Cobalt.
Perhaps it would provide some level of comfort to concede that, after all, we all saw it coming. How could you not? 13 goals and nine assists in only his second season at America First Field, and in merely 23 appearances too. More than being foreseeable, in fact, this was inevitable. You just had to have expected this, but perhaps the true heartache stems from the hope that the dream would continue in Sandy for just a little while longer at least, before its predestined conclusion.
Alas, it wasn’t to be.
It is the reality of professional sports, as akin to life in general, that opportunities for greatness exist and thus cost a premium, and as such must be swiftly realized and properly utilized upon presentation, and so it has proven for Andrés Gómez and Real Salt Lake.
RSL, in a recent Club statement, officially confirmed the news of the 21-year-old’s departure, set to leave the Club only 18 months after his first arrival on the Wasatch Front, for the allure of European football and history of French Ligue 1 outfit Stade Rennais. In another record-breaking deal, the sale becomes the largest outgoing transfer in RSL history, three times more than the fee the Club received from Guadalaraja for Fidel Barajas just weeks prior, as well as now being the 12th largest in the history of North American football’s USA / Canadian top-flight.
A definite career-rocketing and potentially legacy-defining move, no less deserved from one of the Club's favorite sons and most effervescent performers this season.
Carlos Andrés Gómez, Real Salt Lake’s departing footballing prince.
Our very own Boy Wonder who lit up the 801 with his deadly combination of attacking brilliance and sheer wizardry. Ruthless, incisive, precise. The sight of him running down the right flank straight at opposing defenders is surely one that will never get old for attendants at the riot.
The hero of the snowmageddon, the jewel of the Mountain West, and ultimately - the prince on the Wasatch who never became king, but alas his own destiny and ascent lay elsewhere.
In trading the picturesque mountains of Utah for the sandy beaches and rocky cliffs of Brittany, the Colombian winger now has the opportunity to showcase his undoubted talents - now catapulted onto the grandest and most exalted of stages on the ancestral continental home of the global sport. Indeed, it represents a chance at even further greatness for a player who only 18 months ago had been plying his trade in the top-flight reaches of Colombian football, an opportunity that certainly doesn’t come around too often.
His story at the riot might be at its end, but this jugador’s journey to greatness is only just beginning.
2023 Arrival and Modest Beginnings
RSL’s departing prince arrived on the Wasatch Front during the winter in January of 2023 for a Club-record transfer fee at the time, amidst much fanfare and excitement. Upon his arrival, Gómez became the Club’s second-ever U22 initiative signing and the fourth all-time Colombian to represent the Claret-and-Cobalt.
The 21-year-old went on to make his debut for RSL on Feb. 25, 2023, coming on as a 74th-minute substitute for Maikel Chang in a 2-1 away win against Vancouver on the opening day of its 2023 MLS campaign.
Across all competitions throughout his first season, Gómez made a total of 15 starts and 30 overall appearances, recording a goal and six assists - with five of those setups coming as game-winners. His solitary goal during the 2023 campaign came in a 3-1 win against San Jose at America First Field on April 22nd, a game in which he also logged an assist, one of the team’s best performers in a convincing win.
Coincidentally, all Gómez’s goal contributions during his debut domestic campaign came in games RSL would eventually go on to win. With a goal and five assists during the MLS regular season, the team would go on to record victories in each of the games against Charlotte, San Jose, DC United, and Vancouver where he picked up a direct goal contribution, perhaps a sign of things to come and a precursor to what was to follow.
In summary, the first-time Colombian expatriate’s debut campaign was one of acclimatization, hard work, and patience, and a fitting prelude to the events of the following season which would play a defining role in shaping the 21-year-old’s future for potentially years to come.
Second Season and Into the Limelight
The 2024 season, by all accounts, has been a defining one for the young winger, providing a solid platform upon which he has gone on to establish himself certainly as one of the best and most talented attackers on the North American frontier, as well as one of the finest young prospects in world football, thus catapulting him onto a more global audience.
Following a measured start to life in Sandy during his debut campaign, Gómez exploded into life in his second season at the club as just reward for patience and hard work.
RSL opened its 2024 campaign with a defeat and a draw in the team’s opening two games against Inter Miami and St. Louis respectively, before a then rousing 3-0 humiliation of LAFC at America First Field in an enthralling contest which saw Gómez find the net twice and record a further assist in a comprehensive victory. The match, later dubbed “Snowmageddon,” and the “Andrés Snowmez” game, represented the Colombian’s first-ever multi-goal game in Claret-and-Cobalt colors, complemented with an assist as the icing on the cake, serving as a precursor for what would occur throughout the rest of the season.
Following his messianic snowmageddon performance, the 21-year-old subsequently developed into one of the first names on Pablo’s team sheet, starting every game since in which he’s been available. RSL’s departing monarch continued his stunning start to the campaign, as part of a fearsome attacking trident including Captain Chicho Arango and starlet Diego Luna, as the team then embarked on a 15-game unbeaten run in the league to set a new Club record for consecutive games without defeat in MLS action.
The Colombian winger continued his slew of game-winning performances, most notably with multiple two-goal performances in the 5-3 miracle comeback victory against Colorado in May, the 4-3 win away over Kansas City in June, and the 3-2 loss to Colorado in the Rocky Mountain Cup finale in July.
Gómez featured prominently as one of Pablo’s brightest attacking lights and one of the three crowns in the RSL jewel as the team stormed to the top of the league in mid-March, a position held until mid-July.
As would be expected, a campaign of so numerous highs and successes also came with a plethora of broken records. In July, the young winger became the youngest player in RSL’s 20-year, 637-game, and 211-player history to record 20+ goal contributions (then 11g / 9a) in a single season. His 13 goals this season, in conjunction with Chicho’s 17, also made it the first time in three years (since 2021) that RSL has had two players with 10+ goals in a single domestic campaign.
The World at his Feet
Given the manner of his performances this season, it should come as no surprise, and an honor to the player himself, that numerous clubs all across Europe began registering an interest in him and seeking his services ahead of the traditional August start period of the European domestic season, and in Stade Rennais, a perfect match has been formed.
Regarded as one of the oldest and most fabled football teams in France, Rennes also possess a rich, proud history and reputation for developing young, budding world-class talents, most of whom have gone on to achieve tangible success in their careers. The likes of Ousmane Dembélé and Eduardo Camavinga represent some of the biggest and most talented names to have come out of from the Rennais school of football in recent years with both now respectively being World Cup and multiple Uefa Champions League winners.
Gómez would therefore near-certainly be expected to almost immediately fall into that specific category following the footsteps of past alumni of players before him with such world-class potential and on the precipice of world domination, he certainly has the talent for it. His time at RSL has sufficiently proven that his level and abilities now transcend far beyond the realms and challenges North American football, for all its plentiful growth in recent years, can provide. The competitiveness and peculiar challenges of playing in Europe should solve that and provide a stern test for the refinement of his abilities, and fans of European football will attest that there is no greater stage for a young, talented player to make a name for themself and showcase their potential to a grander audience than the nurturing grounds Ligue 1 provides.
All good things must surely also come to an end, and to that effect for RSL, the time has come to bid farewell to one of its prized jewels.
A highly efficient, consistent, and dependable performer, despite the magical volatility and unpredictability. When the lights were out, and the chips were down, you could always count on RSL’s prince in the West to come through. For certain, the Club will no doubt miss one of its storied gems, proof of the Club’s “Winning Together Through Development” ethos.
While the riot in turn will no doubt yearn from afar for one of its favorite sons, RSL will no doubt too aim to tune in from across the Atlantic to catch a glimpse and in support of his journey in France, but for Gómez - his time on the Wasatch is now at its end.
But as the saying goes, don’t cry because it’s over, be happy because it happened, and you were there to experience it in all of its glory. You stand as a true proud witness and living evidence to the wonders he wrought and brought us all. He made us believe again, he made us smile again, the Jewel in the West soon to be the new Jewel of Brittany.
He came, he saw, he delivered, and we cannot ask for more than that.
Farewell young Jugador, and until we meet again.
