The signing of Kyle Reynish to the New York Cosmos was a surprising one. For starters, it kind of came out of left field. The California native has played a steady but largely inactive role backing one of Major League Soccer’s best keepers; Nick Rimando.

Nevertheless, Reynish was thought to be so reliable that RSL kept him as their number two option for five seasons. When they finally parted ways this past December, it was a bitter sweet moment for his coach, Jason Kreis – but one he knew needed to be done.

“Kyle is at an age now where he needs to get somewhere to play,” Kreis told EoS. “I feel like he is an experienced goalkeeper. I always felt comfortable having him as our backup but I did feel like it was time to kind of move him on and get him somewhere he was going to play every single day because I feel the potential is there for him to be an excellent goalkeeper.

“It was just an unfortunate situation that wasn’t going to happen here at RSL since he was behind Nick.”

His move to the Cosmos surprised Kreis – but not for the obvious reasons. Yes, Reynish joined a club that hasn’t fielded a professional side in nearly 30 years, but what surprised the RSL boss most is that he wasn’t picked up by an MLS side. In his opinion, Reynish is by all means an MLS caliber keeper.

“I figured somebody would take him in the re-entry draft back in December,” he revealed. “I thought for sure that people would have scouted him enough to know of his quality and I really thought he would end up on another team in MLS.”

Apparently, one person did do his homework. Cosmos coach Giovanni Savarese took to the phones and called his contacts within the league in reference to the career backup. The reviews on Reynish were glowing.

“We’ve been talking to different people, different goalkeeping coaches, a few soccer personalities we know and they all concur; he is a great prospect,” Savarese tells EoS. “He is a goalkeeper that had a chance to be a starter at Real Salt Lake but they have Nick Rimando who has been very solid for many, many years.

“We are getting a very good goalkeeper who is still young, that has potential to continue growing and I think he fits perfect in what we are looking for in this club. He is a great signing for us and we look forward to seeing him in practices fighting for his position as any other goalkeeper.”

Kreis knows Reynish well, and fighting for a spot is something he feels won’t be a problem for the keeper.

“Well he has been around the game and he has played in some very big games for us,” he said. “He has been training with arguably the best goalkeeper coach in the league in Jeff Cassar. He has been training with Nick Rimando. He has all the experience necessary to lead the other goalkeepers in that team and also offers leadership to the rest of the entire group.”

Kreis has made a career in finding hidden gems. By his own account, it looks like the Cosmos may have done the same.