What’s Hot And Trending?
The hot buzz in the Galaxy fútbol world revolves around Cristian Pavón. The LA Galaxy bid 12 million for 50% of his rights, but the Boca Juniors president rejected the offer. If he were acquired it would have provided a quandary for the designated players. With that amount of money, it’s clear that the Galaxy is looking for a caliber of athlete that is DP material.
The Galaxy’s three Designated Players (DP) include Zlatan Ibrahimović, Jonathan dos Santos, and Romain Alessandrini. With Alessandrini currently out due to injury, many questions remained unanswered, such as will a new DP take Alessandrini’s place and will Zlatan return next year?
The Designated Player rule, aka David Beckham Rule, allows teams to pay up to three players salary that is outside of the team’s cap. At the beginning of the season, we saw DP problems with Giovanni dos Santos. The Galaxy eventually bought out Gio’s contract in order to remove him from the roster and remain compliant with only three designated spots.
New Potential Recruits Or Development Of Current Players?
The LA Galaxy need a player who is versatile. A player who could play as an attacking midfielder, winger, or striker when needed would be a good fit. If a new player were to be added to the current line-up he could play in a winger position and find his spot alongside Favio Alvarez and Uriel Antuna. A player who could get the ball to Zlatan and attack at the same time is what is needed. Guillermo Barros Schelotto likes to play Zlatan up top alone and the addition of a new player or a modification to the current line up would not likely change the formation.
An additional player would add to the lack of depth the Galaxy have demonstrated especially as Sebastian Lleget was recently reinjured during the California Classico against San Jose. Even if no player is signed, interest in players like Pavón illustrates where the LA Galaxy lack depth. Injuries and loss of players due to the Gold Cup have provided opportunities for the young players to flourish.
New players, such as Efrain Álvarez, are starting to show their worth. Alvarez started on the 4th of July against Toronto and had a very nice assist to Zlatan’s goal. So will the Galaxy buy new players or develop current players to fill in the needed depth. Long term goals would side with the development of players, but short term success would depend more on DP material.
Inconsistencies?
Health has crippled the Galaxy and provided them with inconsistent results. The Gold Cup also took several starting players from LA’s line up, thus, further adding to the variability of each game. The Galaxy almost had one of the best starts of their season, but that changed soon after injuries began.
After Alessandrini’s departure, the team began to play inconsistently. Zlatan stated, “Maybe this is who we are, to be realistic,” some took the quote as an attitude of indifference, but most realized the accuracy of the statement.
The Galaxy have had their strongest performances against some of the best teams in the MLS and conversely, have had some of their poorest performances against the worst teams in the MLS. Is this as a result of a lack of talent? No, most likely it is as a result of injuries, missing players, and inconsistent drive.
Despite the ups and downs, the team is still defending their second place spot in the Western Conference; however, their eyes are on Championships and not Conference titles. The Galaxy need to find their identity and if it takes them a few hard losses to find it, then so be it.
LA Galaxy vs The Houston Dynamo in the Western Conference Finals. Photo Credit: YoTut | Under Creative Commons License