Yura Movsisyan: I’m back to U.S. to win championships

PanARMENIAN.Net - Yura Movsisyan left the comfort of Real Salt Lake over six years ago for the unknowns of life as a young professional soccer player in Europe. On Tuesday, January 19, he returned, walking through the glass doors of the club's new downtown team store with a cream-colored RSL scarf draped over his shoulders, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

"Now I'm back to prove that I'm going to be one of the best strikers in this league," he said.

Seated front-and-center, flanked by RSL owner Dell Loy Hansen, general manager Craig Waibel, coach Jeff Cassar and agent Patrick McCabe, Movsisyan held up that familiar No. 14 he donned as a talented striker just tapping into his abilities during his three years at RSL from 2007 to 2009.

He returns to a forward corps in need of an alpha presence — which he vowed to be during his news conference.

"I didn't come back to MLS and relax and enjoy my career. No. I'm here to win championships and I'm here to win games and I'm here to prove it because I still have a chip on my shoulder with everything that I've done," he said.

Prior to propelling RSL into the postseason and throughout the run to the championship, Movsisyan had signed a pre-contract with Randers FC because his deal with MLS was set to expire at the end of the season.

"It was painful to see someone of his caliber not be here, but the money MLS could offer could not even compare to what he could earn in Europe and Russia," Hansen said. "He clearly made a life choice decision to come [back] here and it wasn't about money."

It was a tough loss for RSL to overcome, having dealt for Movsisyan — who was drafted by Kansas City — in 2007 and seeing him bloom. But he's back now after telling his agent two years ago that he wanted to explore the idea of returning to MLS, and more specifically RSL.

"I needed to come back, I wanted to come back and I'm extremely, extremely excited to be back," he said. "And [I am] thankful to everybody that they could get me back. Now it's my turn to do the job, and I will do the job."

To finalize the move, Movsisyan was summoned from his home in Southern California to take a 19-hour flight back to Moscow to sign documents with his former club. In all, he was in Moscow for 12 hours before boarding a return flight to Southern California before eventually landing in Salt Lake City.

"I'm excited more than most to have what I consider one of the top world-class strikers here in Utah," Hansen said.