Jason Kreis, Real Salt Lake coach was spotted in Quito, Ecuador yesterday
observing Argentine Striker Luis Miguel Escalada.This according to Ecuavisa International TV show Tiro Libre. A product of Boca Juniors lower divisions, "El Toro" (the bull) has a colorful trajectory considering he is only 23. Escalada was loaned to Ecuadorean club Emelec by Boca Juniors in 2006. With Emelec, he made 40 appearances and scored 29 goals to become the goal scoring leader that year.
This was enough for Liga of Quito to purchase his rights from Boca for
$1.1M.
With Liga in 2007 Escalada appeared in 38 games scoring 16 times as Liga became Ecuadorean Champions and would go on the next year to become Champions of South America. But Escalada would not take part of that championship as he was loaned out to Brazilian Botafogo. He only appeared in 2 games and was later loaned out to Gimnasia de Jujuy of his native Argentina playing in 11 games and scoring twice. Luis Miguel was in Quito training with Liga in search of a spot on the team but it looks like he is not in the plans of the new coach. Other teams said to be interested are Argentina's Newell's Old Boys and Manta SC of Ecuador but Luis Miguel has stated his desire of moving to the MLS.
Some Youtube vids on Escalada:
One word of caution here. Coaches and staff often scout players for weeks if not months ahead of ever making a move to acquiring a player. There are stories of RSL looking at Robbie Russell for a full year before taking action on him. However, this is at least a sign of what kind of player the team may be looking at.
