Real Salt Lake could have Kasey Keller -- if it wanted

	Four-time World Cup veteran Kasey Keller wants to end his storied career in MLS, and close to his homes in the Pacific Northwest. Bob Martin/SI
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Kasey Keller has been arguably the most important figure in U.S. soccer over the past 15 years. Now he's practically begging for a job in Major League Soccer. The worst part of it is, the national-team keeper has resorted to making his own calls.

That begs the question, does he pay himself the 5 percent agent fees?

"Not likely," Keller told me over the phone from his home, a 10th-century castle in Tönisvorst, Germany. "My wife probably gets that."

We've been saying all along that MLS needs some international star power -- and handled the right way -- if our own league is going to grow and stick in the U.S. And all signs are good so far.

It goes without saying that the David Beckham signing was the catalyst, and the Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Guillermo Barros Schelotto deals are enormous, too. And you've gotta love the fact that every name, from Zinedine Zidane to Martín Palermo to Marco Materazzi, is being tossed around recklessly -- these are the kinds of (mostly) baseless, hot-stove rumors MLS needs to keep people jazzed.

What would say more for how much we've grown as a soccer nation? Bringing our own international stars home. New York's signing of Claudio Reyna was a big victory. But Keller -- hands-down among the top two or three most internationally respected and accomplished players in the history of American soccer -- would be the biggest.

"I've always said that among my goals was to finish my career back in America," the four-time World Cup veteran says. "I still feel that way."

Keller's deal with Borussia Mönchengladbach expires in June, and it looks as if the club he captains is about to be relegated. At 37, he says he's ready for one last contract before he retires. And since he's a family man, he prefers to play close to his U.S. home near Olympia, Wash., or near his vacation home in Tamarack, Idaho. Is anyone else looking at a map here?

Salt Lake City is the only MLS market anywhere near Washington -- a little more than 800 miles away, or a brief two-hour flight from Seattle. And because Keller is ready to sign one final contract, he's not waiting for an expansion franchise in the Pacific Northwest or the San Francisco Bay Area. If no MLS club makes him an offer, he'll likely sign another short-term deal in Europe and then call it quits.

That makes Real Salt Lake the best candidate to sign him. In fact, Keller and RSL were "48 hours from completing a deal" in late 2004, according to Real GM Steve Pastorino, when Keller's four-year tenure at Tottenham Hotspur was coming to an end. Keller and his wife were actually at the point of house-hunting in Salt Lake City until 'Gladbach came in with its offer.

Naturally, Keller says he would like to have that same option now, and although he rightly feels he deserves more than, say, the MLS maximum of $400,000, he doesn't necessarily need the seven-figure salary other designated players are getting.

But Real isn't biting. "We're pretty happy with our No. 1 and 2 goalkeepers right now," Pastorino says, referring to Nick Rimando and '07 SuperDraft pick Chris Seitz. Keller hasn't spoken directly with Pastorino, but he says he had three or four informal conversations with RSL assistant coach Peter Mellor over Christmas -- and was told the club didn't have money under the salary cap to make a deal work.

"There's no team in MLS that wouldn't like to have Kasey Keller in some capacity," Pastorino says. "But it's got to make sense for the player and the team at that time. Right now, it doesn't make sense."

Know what else doesn't make sense? The fact that Keller has to make his own calls to gauge interest from MLS franchises. Having Beckham, Reyna, Blanco, Barros Schelotto and Juan Pablo Ángel in the league fold sure is a nice selling point. But when one of the most important players in the history of American soccer is literally offering himself to a team in need of an identity? That's a no-brainer.

"My kids are both 9, and they've been [enrolled] in three different schools already," says Keller. "I can't come home only to move my whole family to a place that's still a four- or five-hour flight away from the rest of my family. Ideally, I'd love to move someplace where I play two to three years, and receive enough of a commitment from that club so I'll make my own commitment to a city until I'm done playing."

Translation: You sign Keller, Keller puts down roots until his twins go off to college. That means that, for a young team like Real Salt Lake, you might reap the benefits of having the U.S. icon available as perhaps a coach or consultant beyond his playing days.

A 15-year veteran of the English, Spanish and German leagues. A guy with 97 international caps. A guy even Romário says is one of the best keepers he's ever seen. Isn't that alone worth the investment?

Keller seems genuinely excited about playing in MLS, and he thinks his terms are well within reason. To me, this guy has definitely earned it. But for once it appears as if the ball is not in his capable hands.