SANDY, Utah – Real Salt Lake has announced that it has signed 17-year-old RSL-Arizona Academy product Justen Glad to a Homegrown Player contract. Glad joins the first team after spending two years at the RSL-Arizona Academy residency program; he is the seventh RSL-AZ Academy product to join the first team. Per league and club policy, further terms of the deal will not be disclosed.
A defender capable of playing in all four spots along the backline, Glad joined the RSL-Arizona Academy in 2012. He was a major player on the RSL-AZ U-16 team that won the 2012-13 U.S. Soccer Developmental Academy National Championship, scoring the game-winning goal in RSL-AZ Academy’s 4-2 win over Solar Chelsea SC in the U-16 Final. Glad was named to the USSDA Western Conference “Starting XI” and was named as an NSCAA High School All-American for the 2012-13 Academy season. Glad trained with the RSL first-team for the entire 2014 preseason.
“I’m really looking forward to being able to join the RSL first-team,” Glad said. “Ever since I can remember I’ve dreamed of being a professional, and RSL and the RSL-Arizona Academy have made that possible. It’s going to be an amazing experience learning from a great coaching staff and an experienced group of players, and I’m incredibly thankful for everyone that helped make this dream a reality.”
Glad also has extensive experience as a U.S. Youth International. He became a United States Under-17 Men’s National Team regular after joining the RSL-AZ Academy, joining the U-17’s for its CONCACAF qualifying tournament and its international tournaments in Azerbaijan and Niigata, Japan. Glad was included in the U.S. Under-18 Men’s National Team training camp in California at the end of last year and participated in its 2014 January camp in Florida. The young defender was most recently called up to the April U.S. Under-18 camp in Carson, Calif., which will feature matches against Canada and Mexico.
RSL released MF Joey Dillon in order to make room for Glad on the roster. A Georgetown product, Dillon was selected by RSL in the third-round of the 2014 MLS SuperDraft.
Glad has one appearance with the Real Salt Lake Reserves, starting and playing the full 90 in the Claret-and-Cobalt’s 1-1 draw at the Portland Timbers Reserves on Sept. 8, 2013.
