Real Salt Lake signs striker

Real Salt Lake filled its final senior roster spot on Friday with the signing of Will Johnson.

The 21-year-old striker signed with Major League Soccer earlier this week after spending the last three seasons playing for the Dutch Eredivisie, or first division, with a contract with Heerenveen. This is not Johnson's first experience with the league as he had six appearances with the Chicago Fire in 2005, scoring once. Chicago retained his rights while playing overseas, so in order for RSL to sign him, it gave up a fourth-round selection in the 2009 SuperDraft, and a second-round pick in 2011.

"He is a good young player that fit exactly what we were looking for," said RSL General Manager Garth Lagerway. "He's an American cardholder that took his skills overseas to develop his game, and we want to bring him back.

"We feel that any player that can go over to that type of hostile environment and get better can only help out our team. We've had some success with those players on our club already."

Johnson was born in Toronto, Canada, and plays for the Canadian National Team. He was recently named to the top-11 in CONCACAF sectional qualifying with the U-23 team after scoring three goals in three games while trying to help the team make the Olympics.

"We are planning on him being a big part of our future," added Lagerway. "There are not a lot of 21-year-olds in the world that can play in the Dutch first division, so we know that he has the talent and ability to help us. He is a versatile, attacking player with a lot of fire that can play any of probably four or five spots for us. We continue to try to add depth and quality players and we think that Will is going to be another building piece for us."

E-MAIL: mblack@desnews.com

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