HERRIMAN, Utah (Tuesday, August 1, 2023) – Real Salt Lake (Major League Soccer) and Nottingham Forest (English Premier League) have reached agreement on the permanent transfer of MF Braian Ojeda to the Utah side, the clubs announced today. Ojeda – the Paraguayan international who had been on loan to RSL since last August – is signed via the League’s U-22 initiative through the end of the 2025 MLS season, with Club options for both 2026 and 2027.Â
“Braian has established himself both as an instrumental piece of our current group,” said RSL General Manager Elliot Fall, “and a key building block for our club moving forward. We are thrilled to be able to make his transfer permanent, and we look forward to his continued growth and development in Salt Lake.”
Since his arrival on loan from Nottingham Forest to the Wasatch Front late in the 2022 season, Ojeda quickly inserted himself into the RSL selection, appearing in seven regular-season and playoff games last season for the Claret-and-Cobalt, starting six. This season, Ojeda has appeared in 21 of RSL’s 24 MLS reg. season matches, starting in 15. Ojeda has also factored in each of RSL’s six Open Cup or Leagues Cup contests, starting four.Â
“I am very happy to have my situation resolved and am excited to remain with Real Salt Lake,” said Ojeda, during preparations for Thursday’s Leagues Cup Round of 32 home match against Liga MX power Club León. “This club has become my family here, as I have grown as both a person and a player during my year in Utah. I will do everything I can to help the team reward our great fans this year with trophies in Leagues Cup, Open Cup and later in the MLS Cup playoffs. I want to express my gratitude to the coaches, the staff and the fans for everything they have done for me to get to this point, and I look forward to great success in the coming years for RSL.”
Across all competitions so far this year, Ojeda has totaled 27 appearances, 19 starts and 2,039 minutes, playing primarily as two-way midfielder in Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s preferred double pivot. During his year in Salt Lake, Ojeda has demonstrated the ability to also play as a six, protecting a back four, displaying exhibitions of defensive tenacity, exquisite touch on the ball and passing vision moving forward.Â
Ojeda joined Nottingham Forest in August, 2021, at the outset of their EFL Championship campaign, appearing in three matches following a South American club career in his native Paraguay and a year-long loan in Argentina. Throughout Ojeda’s first European season, the athletic two-way midfielder made four international appearances for Paraguay, each full FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Since arriving at Real Salt Lake a year ago, Ojeda has added another four full international appearances for Paraguay, bringing his career total to eight. Ojeda has also made 16 appearances for La Albirroja youth international sides at the U-17, U-20 and U-23 (Olympic) levels.
As an 18-year-old, Ojeda made his professional debut with Paraguay’s oldest and most historically-dominant club, Olimpia, who he represented as a youth. Between December, 2018, and August, 2021, Ojeda made 40 appearances with Olimpia, while also spending time on loan in Argentina with first-division side Defensa y Justicia, appearing in 12 matches.
A year ago, Ojeda became the youngest international on Real Salt Lake’s roster, the Paraguayan one year younger than Argentine MF Pablo Ruiz; in the last six months, RSL has also added two Colombian internationals younger than Ojeda (FW AndrĂ©s GĂłmez and MF Nelson Palacio), both also arriving as part of the League’s U-22 initiative.Â
Major League Soccer’s U-22 initiative is designed to allow MLS clubs to add players age 22 and younger to rosters, often with lucrative contracts at a reduced budget charge, decreasing the risk associated with acquiring or retaining players still approaching their prime.
Ojeda arrived as the Claret-and-Cobalt’s second-ever Paraguayan international, joining 2016 FW Pedro Báez. In MLS, Ojeda became the ninth Paraguayan, all but one playing in for Western Conference sides. During the League’s 27-year history just prior to his arrival, Ojeda became the 20th Paraguayan to appear, upon his first MLS minute in his Sept. 4, 2022, debut at eventual champion LAFC.
