SALT LAKE CITY — Just before former Spartak Moscow striker Yura Movsisyan had worked out a deal to return to Real Salt Lake on loan with an option to buy for the 2016 season, he jokingly told his wife Marianne that he would be returning to Moscow and the Russian Premier League.

Obviously, she didn't find it funny: she didn't talk to Movsisyan for the rest of the day.

Fortunately for Movsisyan, he apologized and signed a deal to come home to Salt Lake City, where RSL unveiled its newest Designated Player to the media and fans Tuesday at its 55 East 300 South downtown team store.

The plane ride to the Wasatch Front was met with much more enthusiasm than the earlier chide, and Movsisyan expressed joy, excitement and a sense of longwaiting in his first return to the Salt Lake Valley since helping RSL win the 2009 MLS Cup championship.

"She's excited and my whole family is excited," Movsisyan said through a grin. "My kids are excited to be back in the states and to go to school here. Utah is a great place to raise a family, and I'm just super excited."

Movsisyan's return to the club where he won its only championship and scored its first-ever postseason goal was a long time in the making. But once it was complete, there was one thing that hit the now 28-year-old Armenian international who grew up in Southern California.

He was home.

"For me, Salt Lake is home," said Movsisyan, who added his family has supported him in every landing spot — even while a return to RSL was the ultimate destination. "When I left, I won a championship in Salt Lake and it was the best thing that had ever happened to me and RSL at that time. But now I am back home, and my family and friends know how difficult it was to come back."

Movsisyan's agent, Patrick McCabe of Global Premier Management, said he and Movsisyan have been working on ways to bring the Armenian-American who grew up in Pasadena, California, back to the states since September — officially.

But his initial attempts to return to Major League Soccer began well before that.

"Yura has been pushing me for a lot longer than that to come back here," McCabe said. "I'm probably more surprised than anyone to get back here. I know how hard it is to get these deals done, and (RSL General Manager) Craig (Waibel) knows, especially when you are dealing with a big club in Russia and a big player."

The whole time, Movsisyan's return to MLS was about one thing: family. And it wasn't just the family that he and Marianne had built since leaving RSL — two children now and another due in April. In Salt Lake, Movsisyan played three seasons and accumulated 15 goals in 53 matches, including a goal against Chivas USA in the 2008 MLS Cup playoffs that helped christen a brand-new Rio Tinto Stadium.

The former Kansas City Wizards SuperDraft pick has scored 70 goals in 177 appearances throughout his professional career. And even though he considers Pasadena, California, his hometown, Salt Lake was the only option for his return.

"It didn't matter if Salt Lake had my rights or didn't have my rights; Salt Lake was home for me," Movsisyan said. "I had success in Salt Lake, and family matters a lot for me. I felt Salt Lake was family. I needed to come back, I wanted to come back, and I'm extremely excited to be back.

"Now it's my turn to do the job, and I will do the job."

Movsisyan left RSL as the No. 6 all-time leader in goals scored. He spent two years in Denmark with Randers FC, scoring 12 goals in 30 matches and helping turn around a team that went 0-12-4 before he got there to 9-0-5 in the back half of 2010 that helped the team avoid relegation.

"We all know what Yura can do," RSL owner Dell Loy Hansen said. "It was painful for RSL to see someone of his caliber not be here. But the money that MLS could offer couldn't compare to what he could earn in Europe and Russia. He clearly made a life choice decision to come (back) here, and it wasn't about money."

When the Russian Premier League came calling, he was ready to listen. Movsisyan moved to Krasnodar ahead of 2011, and finished with 23 goals in 50 matches before one of the biggest clubs in the Premier League came calling — Spartak Moscow.

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Former RSL striker Movsisyan returns to Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake reached an agreement to bring back former striker Yura Movsisyan, Russian club Spartak Moscow announced Friday. Movsisyan will occupy one of RSL's three Designated Player slots.

Spartak's faith in the young striker immediately dividends, when the Armenian international scored his first professional hat trick as a debutante in 2013. He went on to score 25 goals in 62 appearances with the Russian giants, who have recently undergone a significant coaching change. McCabe started looking a little more into transfer — but there was only one option: MLS.

"The league is so much better," Movsisyan said. "I played in Russia and different leagues, and MLS is up there with them. MLS is one of the best leagues, and I wanted to be part of this. My family wanted to come back, and I wanted them to be happy."

Since leaving RSL, Movsisyan has worked to become a crafty goal-scorer at each of his stops across Europe and Asia. By his own admission, he's become more lethal at the point of attack — where once he needed multiple chances to score, he's limited down to one or two shots.

Opposing teams are already taking notice, RSL coach Jeff Cassar said.

"After the buzz started to happen around the combine in Fort Lauderdale, a lot of coaches told us what a wonderful pick-up it was," Cassar said. "When you have a forward that puts fear into coaches and the opposing team, that is what you want. It's not just with Yura, but all of our attacking players and the players we are going to announce. We'll have a team that people fear."

At the price of a Designated Player, expect Movsisyan to feature prominently into RSL's attacking corps — from Javier Morales to Juan Manuel "Burrito" Martinez to Joao Plata and beyond, Hansen said.

"He will make a difference. Yura is a difference-maker," Hansen added. "We feel really lucky for Yura to be here."

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