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Real Salt Lake has acquired Kenny Mansally, the team announced hours before it played the Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday, signing the former New England midfielder to a contract after a three-week trial.
"It feels great to have the opportunity to play with one of the best teams in MLS," Mansally said in a statement. "This organization has been doing really well, for a long time, now they are first in the West. It will be hard to just jump in, but I'm going to work hard, and I'm very happy to be here."
The 23-year-old Gambian played parts of six seasons with the Revolution, appearing in 89 regular-season games and scoring seven goals with five assists. He's so versatile that he typically has played forward or midfielder in Major League Soccer, but normally plays left back when representing Gambia.
That's a position at which he's likely to see some action with RSL, considering the team has continued to search for capable backups to outside backs Chris Wingert and Tony Beltran.
Mansally was released by the Revs last month, and opened his trial just after RSL suffered its embarrassing loss to minor-league Minnesota in the U.S. Open Cup tournament on May 29. He impressed the coaches enough that they were comfortable releasing defender Leone Cruz, a rookie defender who had not cracked the lineup, to make room on the roster.