Real Salt Lake going back to the future with Robbie Findley

Real Salt Lake has just gone a long way to replacing the front line power lost when Fabian Espindola’s firebrand talent was shipped to New York in a December trade.

Looks like the gang from Rio Tinto is going back to the future with Robbie Findley.

Findley was a second-round pick of the LA Galaxy back in 2007 but made his MLS bones at Real Salt Lake.

In four years and one short of 100 games, Findley had a respectable 29 goals for RSL, even if he never quite fully nailed down that starting spot under manager Jason Kreis.

He signed with Nottingham Forest two years ago but never established his place at the once prominent City Ground. So now, at 27, he appears to be back in MLS and back with RSL.

Still unresolved is how Findley, who has 11 full international caps for the United States, will arrive into Utah when the Portland Timbers own his rights? In a fairly savvy move, as it turns out, Portland took Findley in the 2010 expansion draft. The striker had already stated his intention to move abroad, so it was a calculated risk for the Timbers, who were wagering that he would, in fact, return to the league.

Well played, sirs.