Real Salt Lake trades Espindola, Olave, Johnson

Real Salt Lake trades Espindola, Olave, Johnson

Published Dec. 4, 2012 2:27 a.m. ET

Real Salt Lake has traded top veterans Fabian Espindola and Jamison Olave to the New York Red Bulls and midfielder Will Johnson to Portland in exchange for an undisclosed amount of allocation money.

The Utah club announced the deals Monday.

Espindola was an MLS All-Star in 2012. He started 104 games for Real Salt Lake and registered 35 goals and 17 assists.

Olave appeared in 119 games and was 2010 MLS Defender of the Year.

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Johnson spent the better part of five seasons with RSL.

All played a major role on squads that won the MLS Cup in 2009 and qualified for five consecutive playoffs.

General manager Garth Lagerwey said salary cap constraints forced the trades but that he believes the moves should help the team reload for 2013.

Real Salt Lake earlier traded forward Justin Braun to Toronto FC in exchange for defenseman Aaron Maund.

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