Real Salt Lake plays hardball, so Movsisyan stays put

LEHI — As anyone would be, RSL general manager Garth Lagerwey became disheartened when someone showed him a photo of Yura Movsisyan, one of his team's prized assets, posing with another team's jersey in his hands.

Movsisyan flew to Europe last weekend and signed a pre-contract to play for Randers FC of Denmark once his contract with RSL expires at the end of this calendar year, and after Movsisyan put pen to paper with his new club, someone at Randers had him pose inside his future stadium while holding up his future jersey.

But despite the emotional distress that image caused Lagerwey, he said he made sure it didn't cause him to make an emotional decision.

MLS and Randers engaged in negotiations to cut a deal that would bring Movsisyan to Randers right now, which was Movsisyan's preference because of personal and family issues. But the sides weren't able to reach an agreement, and Lagerwey announced Friday morning that negotiations were over and that Movsisyan would remain an RSL player for the rest of the 2009 MLS season.

"Look, I'm human, right? You don't wanna see your guy in another jersey. But at the same time, you understand what's going on," said Lagerwey. "You just gotta be a lawyer. You gotta be rational, logical and look at all the facts and make the decision based on what's on the table.

"What they were offering wasn't close to being able to replace Yura over the next six months. I'm not gonna make our team worse because someone tried to (tick) me off."

According to Lagerwey, Randers made a "low-ball offer" for Movsisyan before the 21-year-old striker left for Europe. After he signed, MLS made a counter-offer, but Randers wasn't willing to move "even a penny" above its initial offer, said Lagerwey.

"It's pretty standard practice where they make the low-ball offer, (and) the guy flies over," he said. "If he signs, they make sure they take a nice picture with the team jersey and then they try to get you to make an emotional decision to bully you into taking their pittance of an offer. We didn't do that, and they didn't come off their offer, so we've moved on."

Movsisyan wanted to move now so that he could join his new club for the start of its season and so he and his wife could get settled in Europe before their baby is born in late December. However, he said on Wednesday he'd be happy to stay with RSL for the rest of the season, and he reiterated that on Friday after Lagerwey's announcement.