I’m not retiring. I think I have a couple years left to play. – Javier Morales
Javier Morales, 36, isn’t ready to retire. He still loves the game and believes he can help a team.
Exactly what team that will be remains to be seen.
When Morales met with the Real Salt Lake technical staff last week for his annual exit interviews, the club informed him they weren’t picking up his 2017 contract option. Had he started one more game in 2016, next year’s contract would’ve been guaranteed.
Instead, now he’s a free agent.
“I’m not retiring. I think I have a couple years left to play,” said Morales in an interview at his home on Tuesday afternoon.
Next week Morales and his family will travel to his native Argentina to spend the holidays, something he’s done annually during the MLS offseason over the past decade. For the first time in 10 years, he faces an uncertain future when he returns.
When Morales re-signed with Real Salt Lake after the 2015 season, he kind of figured the reinvestment from both parties meant he would likely retire with RSL. He couldn’t have been happier too because he and his wife consider Utah their home. Their two kids, 9 and 4, have grown up in Utah during Morales 10-year career with the club.
Real Salt Lake general manager Craig Waibel knew telling Morales they weren’t picking up his 2017 option would be difficult. It wasn’t one he took lightly either and one he expected a different outcome.
“Unfortunately the conversation didn’t reach the apex that I’d hoped for and the way I’d structured the conversation to go,” said Waibel. “I understand because I’ve played, that these meetings are very difficult not only for the club but for the player. They’re very emotional for everyone in the room. The meeting didn’t quite get to the level of depth that I was hoping for.”
Morales left the meeting feeling he had no future with the team and took to Twitter the next day to say goodbye to Real Salt Lake’s fans.
Waibel had hoped that in the meeting he’d discuss the possibility of Morales returning under a different contract, but it never got that far.
“I know this isn’t the end of Javi’s playing career,” said Waibel, who added that in conversations with Morales’ representation, future discusses between the two parties could still happen.
“I don’t think there’s any hard lines drawn in the sand,” he said.
But at this point, those conversations could happen with any team in MLS, or any team in his native Argentina. At his age, Morales knows he won’t garner the same type of salary he’s enjoyed recently, and he’s OK with that.
“I don’t want to retire. I want to retire when I feel like I don’t help the team anymore,” said Morales.
Gauging his impact on the team in 2016 is tricky. When he was in the starting line-up Real Salt Lake posted an 8-5-10 record this season and he wasn’t it went 4-7-0. At the same time, his goals and assists numbers were considerably lower than in the previous three seasons.
His importance can really be spun two different ways.
On the one hand, RSL was winless the last three matches Morales started and winless in the last six games he appeared in.
But at the same time, in the seven games, Morales didn’t start from April 23 to the end of the season RSL collected exactly Zero points. It couldn’t even muster a tie in those seven games — five of which were on the road.
Then again, he came on as a sub in five of those seven losses and couldn’t effectively impact the match enough to help RSL salvage a point.
All those factors certainly played a role in RSL declining Morales $590,000 contract option for 2017.